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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



> CHRIST'S KINdDOJI NOT OF THIS WORLD. 




THE 



IRITUAL CHARACTER 



,^^ 



OF THE 



KINGDOM OF CHRIST, 



THREE DISCOURSES 



BY SETH WILLISTON, 

ithor of " The Harmony of Divine Trutii," " Discourses on the Temptations oi 
Christ," eiC" 



■^ 




' NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY SAXTON & MILES. 
205 Broadway. 

1842. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, by 

SETH WILLISTON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for 
the Southern District of New York. 



4 3^ 



S. W. BENKDICT, PRINT. 



6 



THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. 



DISCOUESE I. 

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.— John 18. 36. 

When Pilate asked Jesus whether he was the 
king of the Jews, he implicitly acknowledged 
the fact ; but to prevent all mistake, as though 
his dominion might have some rivalship with 
that of Csesar, he answered, " My kingdom is 
not of this worldy In this answer he teaches 
us two things : 

I. That he is at the head of an interest or 
community which may with propriety be called 
a kingdom. 

II. That this interest is so entirely different 
from the kingdoms and governments of this 
world as not to be reckoned one of their number. 

I. The interest which Christ has set up 

AMONG men may WITH PLOPRIETY BE CALLED A 
KINGDON ; FOR, 

1. Like other kingdoms it has a supreme head. 



Christ's kingdom 



Christ himself is its head. This is implied in 
his calling it his kingdom. He it is concern- 
ing whom the Father speaks, when he says, 
'' Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of 
Zion." He is the king whom the angel Gabriel 
declared should reign over the house of Jacob 
forever, and of whose kingdom there should be 
no end. He is head over all things to the 
church; and of the church itself he is the very 
head. Ps. 2. 6. Luke 1. 33. Eph. 1. 22. 
Col. 1. 18. 

Christ is perfectly competent to preside over 
this kingdom ; for it pleased the Father that in 
him should all fulness dwell. He has ability to 
legislate for his church, and to administer its 
government, also to defend and protect it. 
Though he has a dependent nature in common 
with his subjects, being a man as well as they, 
he is not a mere man^ nor a mere creature. If 
he were he would be infinitely incompetent to 
be the supreme Head of the church. But he is 
the " mighty God," and therefore fully able to 
bear the weight of that great government which 
is laid upon his shoulder. Isa. 9. 6. 

2. The kingdom over which Christ presides 
resembles the kingdoms of this w^orld, in that it 
has a certain definite number who constitute its 
subjects* Christ's kingdom on earth has two 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 5 

very different classes of subjects, namely, those 
who are such in hearty and those who are such 
only by profession. Thus he himself taught us, 
when he likened this kingdom to ten virgins, 
who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the 
bridegroom ; of which number five were wise 
and hwe were foolish. All those who profess 
the religion of Christ, and attach themselves to 
some branch of the visible church, are counted 
for the subjects of his kingdom. As viewed by 
their fellow men these constitute the church : 
but as they are viewed by Christ himself, very 
many of them have neither part nor lot in the 
matter. They, and they alone, who have a 
birth which is not of blood, nor of the will of 
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, are 
the true and loyal subjects of his kingdom. 
These are distinguished from the mere visible 
subjects, by that inward discernment they have 
of the supreme excellency of their King, alid by 
their attachment to his government. They pre- 
fer his kingdom above their chief joy ; so that 
in their estimation other things have their im- 
portance according to their direct tendency to 
promote its invaluable interests. Among the 
other class of subjects, open revolt and apostacy 
are not unfrequent, but these who are spiritually 
1* 



Christ's kingdom 



enlightened will retain their loyalty, they will 
endure to the end. 

3. The community over which Christ presides 
has established laws for its regulation^ and is 
therefore properly denominated a kingdom. 
These laws are all contained in the scriptures of 
the Old and New Testaments. The moral law, 
which can never be abrogated, is comprehended 
in those ten distinct commandments, which God 
wrote with his own finger on the tables of stone, 
and which the Savior condensed into two ; the 
first enjoining supreme love to God, and the 
other impartial love to our neighbor. 

The precepts of the Bible are obligatory on 
all men, not excepting those who remain with- 
out the pale of the church ; but such as are 
within its pale are supposed to have given their 
consent to them, as the invariable rule of their 
life. Moreover, Christ has given some rules 
which are particularly designed for the members 
of his visible family. Some of these rules relate 
to the observance of special divine ordinances, 
some to the admission and exclusion of mem- 
bers, and other things pertaining to their internal 
government. 

4. The interest which Christ has set up, and 
which he has exhibited before the world in that 
community called the church, is properly deno- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 7 

minated his kingdom, because, like the kingdoms 
of earth, it is capable of being perpetuated from 
generation to generation, and of being enlarged 
by acquiring new subjects and new territory. 

Other kingdoms and governments are perpe- 
tuated by successive generations, who acknow- 
ledge the authority of the same laws, and of 
that successioa of rulers who are appointed to 
see them executed. The kingdom of Great 
Britain has existed many centuries, though not 
a man who held a place in it a century and a 
half ago can be found among its present inhabi- 
tants. The republic of the United States is the 
same government it was when our independence 
was first declared, or, perhaps more properly, 
when the federal constitution was adopted, 
though the great majority of its present popula- 
tion came into existence long since even the 
last of these dates. 

The church of Christ on earth is wholly made 
up of mortal men ; and yet the church has lived 
through every age, from the beginning to the 
present time. As new generations of men are 
continually coming on the stage to perpetuate 
a kingdom or state, so a new generation of 
Christians rise up to perpetuate the church. 

Kingdoms and states are susceptible of en- 
largement by natural population, by conquests, 



8 



CimiST's^ KINGDOM. 



or by more peaceful means of adding territory 
to their former possessions. They are also sus- 
ceptible of diminution. In these respects Christ's 
church resembles the kingdoms of this world. It 
can be enlarged by an increasing progeny, 
which the apostle represents by the natural 
branches of the olive tree. These, however, 
will not make loyal subjects in the kingdom of 
God, unless he shall verify to their believing 
parents the promise of pouring his Spirit upon 
their seed and his blessing upon their offspring. 
Isa. 44. 3. 

The church of Christ, like the kingdoms of 
men, may be enlarged by immigrations, and by 
the acquisition of new territory. While its lo- 
cation was in. the land of Canaan, the Lord by 
the prophet thus addressed it: "Enlarge the 
place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the 
curtains of thy habitations — for thou shalt break 
forth on the right hand and on the left , and thy 
seed shall inherit the Gentiles." Isa. 54. 2, 3. 
And though Christ's kingdom is not, like other 
kingdoms, liable to utter destruction, yet has it 
repeatedly been diminished and brought low. 



Having suggested several reasons "why Christ 
denominated his church a kingdom, I proceed 
to show, 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. y 

II. Why he declared that his kingdom was 

NOT OF THIS WORLD. 

It exists in this world where other kingdoms 
do; but it widely differs from them all, in 
its nature, and the objects it designs to accom- 
plish. Though it is. in the world, it is not of 
a worldly character. This is intimated by 

its being called "the kingdom of heaven" — 
"the kingdom of God" — ''the household of 
faith," and the like. The discriminating fea- 
tures by which it differs from all the kingdoms 
and governments of this world, are such as these : 
1. It has altogether a different head. The 
kingdoms of this world are ruled by men, mere 
men ; but He who is at the head of this king- 
dom is God in our nature — ^' God manifest in 
the flesh." Human governments not only have 
men, but a succession of them to preside over 
their concerns; but Zion's King is the same 
through every generation. 1 Tim. 1. 17. He 
knows the number, circumstances, and real cha- 
racter of all his subjects. He has power not 
only to enact his own laws, but also to secure 
obedience to their requirements, or to inflict 
their penalties on the disobedient. He who is 
at the head of this kingdom has the control of 
all other kingdoms and of all worlds : for he is 
King of kings and Lord of lords. The Head of 



10 Christ's kingdom 

the church is Head over all things to the church. 
Eph. 1. 22. 

Zion's King is as good as he is great. His 
moral perfection is equal to his knowledge and 
power. His coming in the flesh was thus an- 
nounced by onex)f the last of the Old Testament 
prophets : " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of 
Zion 3 shout, O daughter of Jerusalem 5 behold 
thy King conaeth unto thee 5 he is just, and hav- 
ing salvation 5 lowly, and riding upon an ass, 
and upon a colt the foal of an ass."* Zech. 9. 9. 
Such an assemblage of excellences meet in no 
earthly prince. He is just — strictly and impar- 
tially just, so that he will by no means clear 
the guilty. Nevertheless he has salvation — 
salvation from a punishment which is inconceiv- 
ably dreadful, and yet richly deserved. In Him 
justice and mercy meet, and are both of them 
gloriously and consistently displayed. He is 
also lowly. This is a rare quality in a monarch: 
but in Zion's King it has a distinguished place. 
He is the Prince of the kings of the earth ; and 
yet lowly enough to wash the feet of the mean- 
est of his subjects. Though he is high, infinitely 
high, he has respect unto the lowly. 

2. The laws of Christ's kingdom are very dif- 
ferent from the laws of earthly governments. 
Human laws can take cognizance of nothing but 



NOT OP THIS WORLD. 11 

external acts. And even of these, it is only the 
smaller part which they undertake to regulate. 
But the laws of Christ extend to all our moral 
conduct, claiming a right to regulate the whole 
man, both the external and internal. None of 
these laws can be fulfilled without the exercise 
of love ; even that love which has for its object 
the universe of intelligent beings 5 which uni- 
verse, according to the instructions of our Divine 
Teacher, is all comprised in three words, God, 
my neighbor, and myself. 

The subjects of this spiritual kingdom are to 
consider themselves, at all times and in all 
places, "under law to Christ." His precepts 
relate to our obligations of every kind — such as 
we are under to ourselves, both in relation to 
our bodies and souls — such as we are under to 
those with whom we are connected in relative 
life — and such as we are under to human gov- 
ernments and mankind at large. 

These laws differ greatly from those of other 
kingdoms in this respect, that they relate very 
much to those duties which we owe directly to 
God, They require that we make Him the ob- 
ject of supreme love, and his glory the ultimate 
end of every pursuit. They require repentance 
towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus 
Christ 5 and enjoin it upon us to be filled with 



12 Christ's kingdom 

the Spirit. They teach us to live soberly^ 
righteously and godly in this present world. All 
the inculcations of human governments, which 
relate to living soberly and righteously, are far 
exceeded by the stricter laws of Christ 5 and 
while their inculcations leave out the duties of 
godliness^ these in His kingdom hold the first 
rank. 

3. As the kingdom of Christ has a different 
head and different laws, so it has quite a different 
object which it designs to accomplish. Human 
governments confine their attention to the things 
which relate to the present life. They seek to 
rise above their neighbors by wealth and power ; 
and sometimes by their philosophical researches 
and other attainments in science. They train 
up their sons to be husbandmen, mechanics, 
manufacturers, merchants, soldiers, politicians, 
physicians, philosophers, and the like , with a 
view to the enjoyment of every temporal con- 
venience. These things are not without their 
importance ; but the object, proposed to be ac- 
complished by the kingdom of Christ, is im- 
mensely greater. It contemplates men as im- 
mortal beings, passing through a short probation 
to a state final retribution. It also contem- 
plates them as having a depraved nature, which 
renders them obnoxious to divine justice, and 



JVOT OF THIS WORLD. 13 

incapable of any pure and rational enjoyment. 
Its grand object is to transform the human char- 
acter , to make men, in a moral sense, new crea- 
tures. While it changes sots into sober men, 
and other pests of society into good citizens, it 
it seeks an object altogether more valuable than 
this, namely, to make them good subjects of the 
holy^dominion of the Most High, and to prepare 
them for heaven. 

The distinctive marks of Christ's approved 
subjects are peculiar to themselves. They have 
been converted, and so have become, in a spiri- 
tual sense, little children. The blessing, which 
the Savior pronounced upon the poor in spirit, 
the mourners, the meek, those who hunger and 
thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure 
in heart, the peace makers, and the persecuted 
for righteousness sake, b elongs to them. They 
have all been taught in the school of Christ, and 
have learned of him who is meek and lowly of 
heart. They are not yet perfect 3 but it is the 
object of that spiritual kingdom, to which they 
have attached themselves, to improve their ren- 
ovated character and train them up for a state of 
perfection in holiness and blessedness. This 
was the very design of that distinct organization 
called the church. Its internal government has 
no relation to the affairs of this life, only as these 



14 Christ's kingdom 

stand connected with the interests of the life to 
come. The affairs of the present life it leaves 
to be regulated by secular governments, while it 
enjoins on all its members the important duty 
of watching over one another's moral conduct; 
to admonish, reprove and receive reprool in the 
spirit of meekness ; also, to sympathize with 
each other in all the trials of their pilgrimage. 

4. Christ's kingdom greatly differs from the 
kingdoms of this world, as to the means which it 
employs for its extension. States and kingdoms 
are enlarged, beside what is done by their natu- 
ral population, either by purchase or conquest , 
most commonly by the latter. But in neither 
of these two ways does Christ extend his king- 
dom. He never sells the gifts or graces of his 
spirit for money. Acts 8. 19 — 21. And surely 
we can do nothing more at variance with the 
spirit of the gospel than to attempt its promulga- 
tion by the power of the sword. 

The grand weapon which the Redeemer em- 
plovs to extend his holy empire is the sword of 
the Spirit, which is the word of God. This is 
that rod of his strength which he promised to 
send out of Zion, to prepare the way for him to 
rule in the midst of his enemies. Ps. 110. 2, 3. 
He sends it out in printed pages by means of the 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 15 

press, and by the ministry of the word. When 
the ministers of the word go forth to their work 
in the spirit of their office 5 and when the whole 
church emit the light of a holy example, and 
pour forth the prayer of faith, the standard of the 
cross advances. In this peaceful manner does 
the Eedeemer build up his kingdom in the earth. 
The ministry of the word, and other human in- 
strumentality, must be used, but after all, our 
chief dependence for advancing the kingdom of 
Christ, is on the secret but mighty influence of 
the Holy Ghost. Why is the word called " the 
sword of the Spirit,'^^ unless it be to teach us, 
that this Divine Agent must take it into his own 
almighty hand to render it effectual 1 With all 
the external means which are placed in our 
hands, to enable us to advance the kingdom of 
Christ, we should despair of its advancement, 
and even of its preservation from utter extinc- 
tion, were the Spirit's influences to be entirely 
withheld from us. The Savior declared, '' It is 
the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth 
nothing." It is by the Spirit's quickening power 
that Christ has gained every subject to his king- 
dom, whose subjection has been hearty and sin- 
cere. And in this way it is that he will acquire 
all his subjects in time to come. There will be 



16 Christ's kingdom 

no new or easier way of doing it even in the 
Millennium itself. 

,5. The kingdom of Christ differs from all other 
kingdoms in its duration. There is no human 
government, whether empire, kingdom, or re- 
public, whose existence can be traced back to 
the beginning of time. Those states and king- 
doms, which attract the most attention in the 
world's history, had there origin long after the 
beginning of time, and yet most of them have 
for many generations ceased to exist. As to 
the governments which are now in existence, 
it is not probable that one of them will be per- 
petuated to the end of time. But the kingdom 
of Christ has been in existence ever since the 
way was made by the fall of man for its erection ; 
and it will be found on the earth at the world's 
last day. It is not, however, so much its con- 
tinuance from the beginning to the end of time, 
which renders its duration unlike to that of all 
other kingdoms ; it is rather its continuance 
when time shall be no more. Other kingdoms 
rise in this world, and here they come to an 
end ; but the kingdom of the Redeemer, though 
it rises in this world, will survive not only the 
wreck of other kingdoms, but of the world it 
self. This kingdom, which the God of heaven 
has set up, shall never be destroyed nor left to 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 17 

other people. Its loyal subjects, who leave the 
earth one after another, are immediately ad- 
vanced to the upper kingdom. And when He, 
who has power over all flesh, shall have given 
eternal life to as many as were given him, then 
will he bring them all together, into those man- 
sions which he has prepared for them in his 
Father's house. Then shall they shine forth as 
the sun in the kingdom of their Father. 

Now will be seen the pure principles on 
which the kingdom of Christ is built. It will 
be seen that these principles were adapted to 
effect a complete transformation of man's de- 
praved nature, and impart a moral excellence, 
to which men who have their portion in this 
life are utter strangers. It can never more be 
matter of dispute whether the tendency of the 
religion of Christ was good; or whether his 
subjects improved their character by coming un- 
der his sceptre. In this world the church is 
black, at the same that she is comely. And be- 
cause she is black, her comeliness is often des- 
pised. It is made a matter of dispute whether 
she has any claim at all to comeliness, especial- 
ly, to be called the " fairest among women." But 
when her deformity shall all be removed, her 
comeliness can no longer be disputed. Her 
deformity, even the last vestige of it, will be 

9# 



18 Christ's kingdom 

removed before she enters her heavenly state, 
but her beauty, even after this, will be increas- 
ing for ever and ever. Blessed are those who 
have an entrance ministered to them into the 
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ. 

I have now shown why it is that the interest 
over which Christ presides, is denominated a 
kingdom ; also, what is implied in its not being 
a kingdom of this world. Is not this subject, 
my brethren, adapted to exert a practical influ- 
ence % To show its adaptation to this object, 
was the occasion of its being selected. Among 
the lessons of instruction which it furnishes 
are these which follow. 

1. In the heavenly nature of Christ's kingdom 
we discover the greatness both of the duties and 
privileges of its subjects. To advance its inte- 
rests should be the chief end of all men ; and 
most certainly of those who acknowledge 
Christ to be their king. There is no other ob- 
ject they can seek which has such a direct ten- 
dency to promote the glory of God, or the hap- 
piness of man. The kingdom of Christ is a focal 
point where the rays of God's glory meet, and 
from which they radiate, to make him known to 
all his intelligent creatures. As saith the Psalm- 
ist, " Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 19 

hath shined." It is a kingdom of light, before 
which the darkness and misery of our apostate 
world flee away. Every degree of its advance- 
ment augments the revenue of divine glory, and 
adds to the stock of human happiness. 

It behooves the subjects of this peculiar king- 
dom to be " a peculiar people." Not that they 
are required to withdraw from human society 
and become hermits. Were they to do this, 
they would no longer resemble the city set on a 
hill which cannot be hid. Their opportunity 
of being useful to their fellow-men would be 
lost. To shine as lights before men, is their ap- 
propriate work ; therefore they must live among 
men. But while they live among men, it be- 
hooves them to imitate the example of Him 
who, in the midst of sinners, was "separate 
from sinners." According to the apostolic ex- 
hortation, they ought to avoid all sinful con- 
formity to the world, seeking continually to be 
tranformed by the renewing of their minds. 

As members of civil society Christians have 
both the rights and duties of citizens. They, in 
common with their fellow men, are obliged to 
engage in secular business. The, entire neglect 
of such business, or a slothful attention to it, is a 
fault, not a virtue. But unless our religion 
shall shed its purifying influence over all our 



20 Christ's kingdom 

secular business, we do not demean ourselves as 
becomes the subjects of a spiritual kingdom. 
Eom. 12. 11. We who have attached ourselves 
to an interest so exclusively spiritual as the 
kingdom of Christ ; an interest whose chief ob- 
ject is to prepare men for heaven, have given 
our fellow men a right to expect that they will 
see in us something superior to mere politicians 
or secular men. Surely it becomes us as sub- 
jects of such a spiritual kingdom, to be spiritual- 
ly and not carnally-minded. If we are the sub- 
jects of the kingdom of heaven, let us be hea- 
venly-minded. Let our thoughts, speech and 
behavior be of a heavenly character. 

The privileges of the subjects of Christ's 
kingdom, (if He has made them such,) are great 
beyond expression. They have been delivered 
from the worst and translated into the best king- 
dom in the universe : and are thereby unfitted 
for the society of the spirits of hell, and made 
meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. 
They are not only brought into God's kingdom, 
but the kingdom of God is set up in their souls. 
That image of their Creator which was lost by 
the fall, has been restored in part, and, under 
the transforming influence of the Holy Ghost, is 
continually advancing towards perfection. The 
promises of God, which are exceedingly great 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 21 

and precious, belong exclusively to them. By 
grace they are made essentially to differ from all 
other men. Their privileges transcend those of 
the subjects of all other kingdoms ; yea, to be 
the meanest subject in the kingdom of heaven, 
is a higher honor than to be the greatest poten- 
tate on earth. Should any subject of Christ's 
kingdom aspire to the president's chair in our 
republic, or even to the throne of an empire, for 
any object foreign to that of advancing that 
spiritual interest which he has espoused, he 
would not walk worthy of his high and holy 
calling as a Christian. Such an attempt to 
rise, would, in the sight of God and other be- 
nevolent beings, serve not to exalt, but to degrade 
him. 

2. From the attention we have paid to the 
spiritual character of Christ's kingdom, we per- 
ceive it may, as time and place are concerned, 
co-exist with other kingdoms and ^overnmenis, 
and yet not at all interfere with them. The reli- 
gion of Christ requires of us supreme regard to him 
as king over all the earth ; yet it strictly enjoins 
subjection to those earthly governments under 
which his providence has placed us. It does 
not merely tolerate subjection to the civil power^ 
but makes such subjection essential to the 
Christian character. The great apostle to the 



22 CHRIST*S KINGDOBi 

Gentiles, in the name of his Master, gives this 
command 5 " Let every soul be subject to the 
higher powers." Again, " Put them in mind to 
be subject to principalities and powers, to obey 
magistrates, and to be ready to every good 
work." Peter, guided by the same Spirit, says, 
"Fear God, honor the king." Rom. 13. 1. 
1 Titus 3. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 17. 

Christ did not forbid his followers to pay tri- 
bute to Caesar. Neither did his apostles forbid 
it. On the contrary they enjoin it as a Chris- 
tian duty. " Render therefore unto all their 
dues ; tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom 
to whom custom." Matt. 22. 17-21. Ro- 
mans 13. 7. 

When the Head of the church appeared 
among men, though he was by right the Prince 
of the kings of the earth, he did nothing to inter- 
fere with their governments. When he per- 
ceived that the people wo did come to take him 
by force to make him a king, he departed into a 
mountain alone. He assumed no earthly do- 
minion, nor would he suffer it to be forced upon 
him. The Pharisees once sought to procure from 
him a sentence of condemnation against an 
adulteress, whom they brought to him 5 but he 
refused to take the seat of a judge. And when 
he was applied to for the purpose of settling a 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 23 

dispute between two litigating brothers, in rela- 
tion to their patrimony, he replied to the appli- 
cant, " Man, who made me a judge or a divider 
over you?" The instructions which he gave 
while he was in the world, were designed to help 
men decide on the morality of all their actions, 
civil as well as religious, and he let them know 
that the words which he spoke would judge them 
in the last day ; and yet he assumed no tempo- 
ral dominion, or authority incompatible with en- 
tire loyalty to the government under which he 
lived. 

It is true that Christ established over his 
church a government of his own ; but it is of 
such a nature as to have no tendency to inter- 
fere with a good civil government of any form. 
He gave rules for the admission, discipline, and, 
if need be, the exclusion of members : but these 
rules do not claim for the church the right of 
inflicting corporal punishments of any kind, or 
the exaction of fines ; but merely the use of mo- 
ral means to preserve its purity. Exclusion 
from membership in the church, which is the 
severest punishment Christ authorizes us to in- 
flict, leaves men in full possession of their rights 
as citizens : they are not at all abridged. Nor 
has he given^us liberty to call on the civil power 
to aid us in the discipline of his house. We 



24t Christ's kingdom 

have no right to call on the magistrate to pun- 
ish our disorderly members, unless in transgress- 
ing the laws of the church, they have also 
transgressed those of the state. Some of those 
laws, which more appropriately belong to 
Christ's spiritual kingdom, such as those which 
relate to the observance of the Sabbath, may be 
so important to secure a healthful state of morals 
in the civil community, as to be adopted into 
their code. Now if the breakers of these laws, 
which are common to both church and state, 
are punished by the authority of the latter, it 
should never be forgotten, they are punished for 
disobeying the laws of the state, not of the 
church. 

There is but one kingdom on earth to which 
the kingdom of Christ stands directly opposed, 
and that is the kingdom of Satan. This king- 
dom Christ came on purpose to destroy. These 
two kingdoms, Christ's and Satan's, are in direct 
contrariety to each other. Every subject which 
Christ gains, Satan loses. When all the inhab- 
itants of the earth shall become Christ's subjects, 
Satan's kingdom will be destroyed. He will 
then be driven from the earth. But to the king- 
doms of this world, so far as they are designed 
to regulate the civil concerns of men, Christ's 
kingdom has no such repugnance. He calls on 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 25 

all men to come under his yoke, but does not 
require them to cast off the yoke of human go- 
vernment. The three thousand, who were 
added to the church on the day of Pentecost, 
were translated from the kingdom of Satan into 
the kingdom of Christ ; but they still remained 
under the government of the Roman emperor. 
Nor did the circumstance of their having put 
on the Redeemer's yoke, render them less loyal 
or valuable subjects of his imperial majesty. 

3. When we understand what Christ meant 
by saying, " My kingdom is not of this world," 
we discover the pertinency of that reason which 
he assigned^ why his servants did not fight, to 
j)r event his being delivered to the Jews. Im- 
mediately after pronouncing the words of the 
text^ he adds, " If my kingdom were of this 
world, then would my servants fight, that I 
should not be delivered to the Jews." The 
reason which he offered why his servants did 
not fight, does not, as I should think, decide on 
the subject of war in general, so as to furnish 
proof that it is wrong to repel with arms an in- 
vading foe. But on this point it does de- 
cide, namely — That the Church, considered 
as a spiritual kingdom, has no right to make use 
of the sword in her greatest extremities : for if 

a case could ever occur where such a right was 
3 



26 Christ's kingdom 

possessed, this was certainly one. The force of 
his argument against taking the sword, was not 
this; that such a method of repelling so wicked 
an assault would be incompatible with a spirit 
of benevolence 5 but that it would be incompati- 
ble with the very nature of a spiritual kingdom 
— a kingdom which had never been intrusted 
with secular authority. Had Christ given the 
power of the sword to his church, it would have 
heeii one of the kingdoms of this world, and 
might have had the appearance of being a rival 
with them. But now it is not so. If the ser- 
vants of Christ bear arms they must do it under 
the direction of the civil government, and as be- 
ing its subjects in common with their fellow 
citizens. Were they to take arms to spread 
their religion, or to defend themselves against 
their persecutors, they would thereby put them- 
selves in the attitude of a secular community, 
contrary to the intent of their Lord and Master, 
Here we perceive a very striking difference 
between Christ and Mahomet. The genius of 
Mahomet's religion is learned by seeing the 
sword placed on the Koran. Those who have 
been converted to his religion, have at the same 
time been brought under the yoke of his secular 
government. As his dominion extended, other 
dominions retreated before it. But when Christ 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 27 

sent forth his ministers to spread his religion^ 
he put no other sword into their hands but the 
sword of the Spirit ; therefore his kingdom went 
forward, without causing other kingdoms to go 
back. 

I am unwilling to pass from this branch of our 
subject, without leaving my testimony against 
every thing which looks like the cherishing of a 
war spirit. Though, as an interpreter of God's 
word, I have felt myself constrained to say, that 
the reason' given by the Savior why his servants 
did not fight for his rescue from the Jews, does 
not, in my opinion, amount to proof of the un- 
justifiableness of all war made by secular govern- 
ments, such as the repelling of an invading foe, 
yet I am ready to aver, that 1 believe the prac- 
tice of national war, as it has been, and is yet 
carried on in the world, to be one of the great- 
est sins and greatest follies of a fallen race. 
" Their feet are swift to shed blood,'' is a true 
and affecting description of mankind. When 
contentions about a little disputed territory, or 
some nice point of national honor, draw forth 
great armies into the field of battle, where innu- 
merable multitudes are precipitated into eternity 
by deadly weapons in the hands of their fellow 
men, there is not only great mischief done, but 
great guilt incurred. What a tremendous day 



28- CHRIST^S KINGDOM 

that must be when " the earth shall disclose her 
blood, and no more cover her slain !" In pro- 
portion as the number of real Christians shall be 
multiplied in any nation, will war become un- 
popular. Soame Jenyns remarks, that if Chris- 
tian nations were nations of Christians^ they 
would not fight. The Millenium will prove the 
truth of this remark. 

4-. In the light of this subject we discover one 
important 'particular^ wherein the church of 
Christ now differs from what it was in its Jew- 
ish state. Some may think that it differs in ev- 
ery particular 5 but this, I conceive, is quite a 
mistake. Has the church received a new head % 
Was not Christ the King of the Jews % The 
laws, for substance, are the same. The sys- 
tem of doctrine and the way of salvation are the 
same. Salvation was then taught by types, but 
it was a salvation by grace, not by the deeds of 
the law. The same traits of character, internal 
as well as external, were required under the Old 
Testament as under the New. It is the great 
object of the gospel to make men holy and fit 
them for heaven : and was not this also the ob- 
ject of the ancient dispensation'^ We are told 
that God gave his people the lands of the hea- 
then, that they might observe his statutes and 
keep his laws, Ps. 105. 44, 45. He directed 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 29 

them to make it the end of all the education and 
training they were to give to their children, to 
lead them to set their hope in God, and not for- 
get the works of God. Ps. 78. 5 — 8. He 
neither required nor accepted any less perfect 
religion of the Jews, than that which he re- 
quires of us. Deut. 10. 12, 16. Ps. 5 J. 6, 
16, 17. In these great features, the Jewish and 
Gentile churches are alike. The Gentile church 
is therefore nothing else than a continuation of 
the Jewish. The kingdom of Heaven which is 
given to us, is the same which was taken from 
them. Gentile converts have come into the 
commonwealth of Israel: or, with another figure 
in view, they have been ingrafted into their 
olive tree. Matt. 21. 43. Eph. 2. 12. Eom. 
11. 17. 

Notwithstanding these points of resemblance, 
the remark is still true, that our subject discovers 
an important particular wherein the church now 
differs from what it was in its Jewish state. 
This difference relates to the power of the 
sword, that is, the right of exercising civil as 
well as ecclesiastical authority. Under the Old 
Testament, the Lord, having chosen the seed of 
Abraham for his covenant people, promised 
them a particular country for their inheritance. 

And when the former inhabitants of this coun- 
3^ 



30 Christ's kingdom 

try had filled up the measure of their iniquity, 
he authorised his chosen people to extirpate them 
and take possession of their lands. This whole 
territory became theirs by a grant from the most 
high God, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth. 
The right of self government, in civil as well as 
ecclesiastical matters, was committed to their 
hands. God, their Supreme King, made all 
their laws, both ecclesiastical and civil. Their 
government has therefore been denominated a 
theocracy — a divine government. But under 
the New Testament, as it was not the Lord's 
purpose to confine his church to any particu- 
lar nation or territory, he takes out of the hands 
of his people all that power of self-government, 
which relates to their civil concerns. In things 
of this nature he now requires them to be sub- 
ject to the powers which exist, wherever his 

providence shall locate them. But in relation 

J. 

to their ecclesiastical affairs, they are still to con- 
sider themselves as " a people dwelling alone, 
and not reckoned with the nations." As the 
church of God^ they have one Master even 
Christ, and all they are l)rethren. 

By what I have now said concerning the dif- 
ference between the Old and New Testament 
churches, I have not intended to assert, that the 
power of exercising civil, as well as ecclesiasti- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 31 

cal jurisdiction, was essential to the existence of 
the church, even under the Old Testament. 
This was far from being true : for the church 
existed a Idng time before it had any particular 
territory assigned it ; or at least before it had re- 
ceived a commission to bring that territory un- 
der the control of its laws. There was also a 
period of several hundred years, which inter- 
vened betwixt the Babylonish captivity and the 
coming of Christ, when the church was in such 
a state of dependence as to be, for the most part, 
under the control of some foreign power ; yet 
tlbis state of civil bondage did not destroy its ex- 
istence as a spiritual kingdom, an ecclesiastical 
community. While under the control of Ro- 
man laws it was still known, in scripture dialect, 
as " the commonwealth of Israel." 

In this connection we can see wherein the 
nation of Israel, not excepting those who were 
" Israelites indeed," underwent a disappoint- 
ment at the advent of Christ. It seems to have 
been the universal expectation that their Messiah, 
when he should come, would assume the reins 
of civil government, and disenthral them from 
their political vassalage. " We trusted that it 
had been he," said some of Christ's own disci- 
ples, '"which should have redeemed Israel." 
You remember that just before his ascension. 



32 CHRIST*S KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD. 

" they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this 
time restore the kingdom to Israel V Hence it 
appears evident, that up to this time they ex- 
pected something from him, besides redemption 
from iniquity and future punishment : they ex- 
pected he would redeem them from the Roman 
yoke, and restore to them a national independ- 
ence. This last was all the redemption which 
the carnal Jews wished their Messiah to accom- 
plish for them. Those who became the true 
disciples of Christ v/ished for a better redemp- 
tion. They sawjhe superior glory of a spirit- 
ual above that of a temporal kingdom, and after 
that copious baptism of the Spirit, which they 
received on and after the day of Pentecost, they 
seem to have given up both the expectation and 
desire of seeing the two blended in one. 
Thenceforward their prayers and efforts all cen- 
tered in the advancement of that divine king- 
dom which is not meat and drink, but righteous- 
ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 



DISCOURSE II. 

Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world.— John 18. 36. 

In the preceding Discourse I described the 
nature of the kingdom of Christ, and pointed out 
several particulars wherein it differs from the 
kingdoms of this world. To render the subject 
practical, I then proceeded to mention some in- 
ferences or lessons of instruction which it seemed 
naturally to furnish : such as ; — 1. The greatness 
both of the duties and privileges of the subjects 
of this spiritual kingdom : — 2. The feasibility 
of its occupying the same territory occupied by 
the kingdoms of this world : — 3. A satisfactory 
reason why the subjects of this kingdom, as such, 
are forbidden to fight :■ — 4. An important partic- 
ular wherein this spiritual kingdom is at present 
different from what it was under the Old Testa- 
ment, namely, its ceasing to exercise a civil 
jurisdiction. I shall now go on to other practi- 
cal remarks which seem to be suggested by the 
subject. I am led to remark, 

5 That by attending to the exclusively spir- 



34 Christ's kingdom 

itual character of Christ's kingdom we can see, 
that all that violent opposition which it has met 
with from the kingdoms of this world, at least, 
when it has been moving on in its own legiti- 
mate sphere of action, has been without cause. 
Since it prescribes no form of civil policy, and 
claims no authority of a secular nature, but re- 
quires its subjects to obey the magistrates of 
every country, in every thing wherein they do 
not require palpable disobedience to the laws 
Christ, what reason can the governments of this 
world have for employing their authority to 
hinder its extension % So long as Christians, in 
seeking to advance the kingdom of Christ, keep 
within their own sphere, they do nothing which 
ought to provoke opposition from earthly princes. 
If they oppose the servants of Christ, when they 
do nothing to stir up sedition or to injure the 
morals of society, but, on the contrary, make all 
their efforts centre in this one object, the trans- 
formation of a sinful into a holy world — the 
subversion of Satan's rule, and the establishment 
of Jehovah's; such opposition can be nothing 
less than hostility to the King of heaven, and 
friendship to the prince of hell. 

The deep policy of him, who (to our shame) 
is styled " the god of this world," has been dis- 
played in the pains he has taken to work into 



I\OT OF THIS WORLD. 35 

the very frame of human governments such sys- 
tems of religious error, as are well adapted to 
prolong his usurped dominion over the children 
of Adam. This has thrown a mighty obstacle 
in the way of the spread of true religion. Pa- 
gan idolatry was so interwoven with the civil 
government throughout the Roman empire, that 
it gave Satan great advantage to withstand the 
apostles and primitive Christians in their at- 
tempts to subvert his throne. It enabled him to 
set in array against them the authority of the 
emperors and their subordinate rulers, for the 
purpose of preventing their casting down his idol 
gods. This advantage against the disciples of 
Christ he still more eminently enjoys in Mahom- 
edan countries. Here the religion of the false 
prophet is so closely combined with their civil 
policy as to bar the door against the entrance of 
the missionary of the cross. 

And here let me ask, whether the policy of 
this same malicious spirit may not have been 
concerned in the blending of ecclesiastical with 
secular rule in some of the governments of 
Christendom 1 Has not a mutual injury been 
done to the civil and ecclesiastical governments 
by their invading each other's prerogatives 1 
Has not the church greatly injured the state by 
forgetting that her dominion was exclusively 



36 Christ's kingdom 



spiritual 1 And has not the state, in its turn, as 
greatly abused the church, by not keeping in 
mind that its government was civil and not ec- 
clesiastical 1 If Christ forbids his church, as a 
spiritual community, to interfere with the gov- 
ernmental concerns of the countries where she 
is located, may he not reasonably expect that 
the governments of these countries will suffer 
his church to transact her own spiritual con- 
cerns, without their interference. When these 
governments claim the right to dictate to the 
church what doctrines she shall embrace, what 
members she shall receive into her communion 
or exclude from it, what ministers she shall ad- 
mit to her pulpits or refuse to admit, do they 
not merit the same rebuke which the church 
has deserved by attempting (as her history shows 
she has done) to assume the civil in connection 
with the ecclesiastical power'? I would not 
however, intimate that either church or state is 
to feel indifferent towards each other's welfare. 
They doubtless have mutual obligations. It is 
incumbent on the state to grant protection to 
the church 5 while it is the duty of the; church, 
by her spiritual instructions, fervent prayers, and 
holy living, to seek the prosperity of the state. 
See Jer. 29, 7. 1 Tim. 2. 1, 2. There is noth- 
ing incongruous in their advising each other 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 37 

in relation to those matters in which both com- 
munities are concerned. But is it not for the 
well-being of both, that their governments should 
be kept entirely distinct, and that they should 
carefully avoid any encroachment on each 
other's prerogatives 1^ 

There is one other practical use which I wish 
to make of the subject before us: and with re- 
gard to this I must ask your indulgence should 
I extend my remarks to a considerable length. 
I think that the existing state of our American 
Zion is such as to give me a claim to the indul- 
gence I ask. Presuming on your patient and 
candid attention to what I shall further present, 
I proceed to state, 

6. That in the light reflected by this sub- 
ject, we discover some important reasons, why 

* Let none suppose, by what has now been said 
concerning the impropriety of mixing together the ci- 
vil and ecclesiastical governments, that the King of 
Zion denies his right to command the kings and judges 
of the earth. As king on the holy hill of Zion, he re- 
quires them, at their peril, to acknowledge fealty to 
Him : " Kiss the son lest he be angry, and ye perish 
from the way." If after they have become acquainted 
with His laws, they enact such as are in direct con- 
trariety to them, they must answer for their contempt 
of his supreme dominion ; but it is at His bar, and not 
that of his church, they must appear. See Psalm ii. 
4 



38 Christ's kingdom 

neither Christ nor his apostles made direct at- 
tacks on what may appear to us to be great faults 
in those civil institutions which were then in 
existence. 

It is possible that some have been prejudiced 
against the Bible, because it recognizes such a 
civil ruler as a king^ and requires subjection to 
his authority. The truth is, that the Bible does 
not prescribe any form of civil government, re- 
quiring subjection to that particular form, in dis- 
tinction from all others. But as kingly govern- 
ment was the form which most prevailed in the 
world, when the scriptures were written, it was 
natural that this form should be more frequently 
alluded to than any other. We are, however, 
required to obey magistrates, whatever might 
be the official name whereby they are distin- 
guished, and to pray for all thai are in authority. 
1. Tim. 2. 1, 2. 

Some, no doubt, would have been pleased 
if Christ had left us his sentiments concerning 
the best form of civil government. In their 
view it would be a great desideratum, to find 
something in the New^ Testament which should 
be very pointed against monarchical govern- 
ment, and in favor of democracy. But when 
they have examined all which was recorded 
by the four Evangelists concerning the public 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 39 

and private discourses of the Savior, and when 
they have read through all the epistles, which 
were written by Paul, James, Peter, John, and 
Jude, they find no discussion on this topic, nor 
any opinion expressed in relation to it. This 
omission may possibly crowd some warm poli- 
tician to the verge of infidelity. He may say, 
" I have no great opinion of a book which says 
so much of the duty of subjection to despots,^^ 
But let me entreat such a one not to be hasty 
in discarding a book, which has so many ex- 
ternal and internal proofs of inspiration, merely 
because it has made no decision concerning 
the best form of civil government. Only be 
candid in your attention to this subject, and 
you m.ay yet be convinced, that what you now 
consider a defect in the religion of Christ is 
really an argument in its favor. Let such 
things as these be considered : 

1st. An opinion from the mouth of the Sa- 
vior on this political question would have been 
so inappropriate, and aside from the grand de- 
sign of his advent, that its tendency would 
have been to obscure that design. The Son of 
God was manifested to destroy the works of 
the devil, an object infinitely superior to that 
of establishing civil liberty in its purest form. 
He came to free us from the dominion and 



40 Christ's kingdom 

punishment of sin 5 to restore to us both the 
image and favor of God, which had been lost 
by the fall ; to bring back a world of rebels 
from an unreasonable and ruinous revolt to a 
cordial reconciliation to divine government. 
In comparison with such an object, every other 
attempt to meliorate the condition of fallen 
man dwindles into insignificance. 

2dly. The duties enjoined, and the benefits 
proffered in the gospel, are calculated for man- 
kind at large, under whatever form of govern- 
ment they may chance to live. If the gospel 
had expressly decided against monarchical, and 
in favor of democratic governments, it had 
been a certain consequence that the preachers 
of the gospel would have been shut out from 
all the monarchies on earth. Had the apostles 
attempted to go through the Eoman empire, 
preaching down imperial government, they 
would have been immediately arrested. But 
if they could have passed through the empire 
unmolested, such preaching would have been 
but poorly adapted to answer the grand design 
of their appointment. It would have showed 
that they had forgotten their great errand, 
namely, to preach Christ and him crucified 5 
and in his name to beseech men to be recon- 
ciled unto God. 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 41 

3dly. Another reason why the religion of 
Christ prescribes no form of civil government, 
but requires us, under every form, to be good 
citizens, may be this ; that it is no easy thing 
to prescribe any one form which shall be best 
for all countries and people. As much as I 
prize our republican form of government, I 
cannot say that I think it would be the best 
for every other nation. Where the public 
mind has had very little scientific culture, but 
especially where the religion and morals of a 
people are corrupt, they seem to be incapable 
of self government. Has South America at all 
improved her condition by casting off from her 
neck the yoke of monarchy, and establishing 
the republican form of government in its room 1 
Until her new republics shall have a purer re- 
ligion and a better state of morals, there will 
be no end to their bloody revolutions. 

Furthermore, I would ask, whether in the 
government of this world, there are not times 
when, all things considered, it is expedient to 
tolerate some things which are not just as they 
should be 'I The law which Jehovah, in the 
character of Moral Governor of the universe, 
has enacted, is perfect. This law he can 
neither repeal nor abate. Let men be ever so 
depraved, the moral law requires nothing less 



42 CHRIST S KINGDOBI 

than perfect holiness. But Jehovah himself, 
when he took the place of Civil Ruler to the 
nation of Israel, tolerated some things which he 
did not approve. He did not approve of their 
desire for a king when they petitioned for one ; 
and yet he consented to the existence of this 
form of government among them, and even 
Hiade laws which should correspond with it. 
He did not approve of such a multitude of 
causes of divorce as suited the humor of the 
people ; and yet, during the Old Testament 
dispensation, he suffered it, and even made 
laws to keep it within certain restrictions. 
Polygamy was never in accordance with the 
original constitution of things ; and yet the 
civil laws of God^s own people did not directly 
forbid it. Deut. 21. 15, 16. Now if God 
himself, as the civil head or temporal king of 
Israel, tolerated things which were not entirely 
in unison with the moral law, it is not strange 
that he should sustain his church under all sorts 
of civil government, and require that under 
them all, they should lead quiet and peaceable 
lives in all godliness and honesty. 

There is, peradventure, another thing which 
has of late bid fairer to prejudice many against 
the Bible, than what relates to the form of 
civil government. I refer to domestic servi- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 4 3 

tude. In this sacred book there are repeated 
recognitions of the existence of a servitude 
which seems to have been of the same nature 
with that now termed slavery 5 and these recog- 
nitions are so worded as naturally to induce 
the belief that the servitude they have in view 
was at least tolerated ; that is, that it was not 
expressly required that it should be abolished. 
No man who has confidence in the perfection 
of God, and who believes that the scriptures 
are a revelation of his will, can object to a 
scriptural investigation of this subject. Surely 
he can have no doubt that God understood the 
subject, and that whatever he has said in re- 
lation to it must have been in accordance with 
wisdom. Any attempt on our part to conceal 
what he has said, cannot please him, but will 
merit his just rebuke. Laying aside all preju- 
dice, let us hear then what God has spoken. 
In our investigation of this subject, we shall 
more particularly examine the scriptures of the 
New Testament. As they contain the latest 
revelation of the will of God to man, their tes- 
timony will be the most unexceptionable in re- 
lation to such as live under the gospel dispensa- 
tion. 

There are two things which it concerns us 
to ascertain: First^ What was the nature of 



44 Christ's kingdom 

that domestic servitude which the scriptures, 
especially those of the New Testament, de- 
scribe. Secondly^ What were the duties con- 
nected with this servitude. 

It concerns us first to ascertain the nature of 
that domestic servitude which the scriptures 
describe. Among those who are agreed in 
their belief of the divine authority of the Bible, 
two different ways are taken to free it from 
the odium which is cast upon it on account of 
the precepts it gives relative to the subject of 
servitude. One class seek to remove this 
odium by supposing that the servitude which is 
recognised, especially in the New Testament, 
was nothing more than the servitude of the 
hireling. They think themselves justified in 
this supposition by the circumstance, that the 
returning prodigal, in his subdued frame of 
mind, is represented as saying to his father, 
"Make me as one of thy hired servants 5" im- 
plying that no servants were known at that 
period whose condition was more humiliating 
than that of hired men. 

It seems to be the opinion of this class, al- 
lowing that involuntary servitude did then ex- 
ist in the unbelieving world, that it had no ex- 
istence among the disciples of Christ. In proof 
of this they say the apostle declares, " There is 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 45 

neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond 
nor free ; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." 
In harmony with this sentiment they suppose 
that whenever masters and servants, bond and 
free, are spoken of as brought together in the 
church of Christ, it does not import that the re- 
lations indicated by these names were then in 
existence, but merel}'' that before their conver- 
sion to Christianity such relations had existed. 
To illustrate their sentiment, they say it is 
common for officers in the military and civil 
departments of government, to retain their ti- 
tles long after their official authority has ceased. 
In examining the scriptures on this or any 
other topic, the inquiry should not be, what 
would we like to have them speak, but rather 
what have they spoken. Now, without recur- 
ring to any other history of gospel times beside 
that which is found in the inspired writings, I 
am constrained to believe there was a servitude 
then on earth, and even in the church, of the 
same general nature with that which is now 
denominated slavery, I will begin by show- 
ing that we have reason to believe it existed 
somewhere; either in the church or in the 
world, or in both. There are passages, allud- 
ing to domestic servitude, which describe 
something quite different from the condition of 



46 Christ's kingdom 

a hired man. The Savior, when he would 
teach us that we do not bring God into debt 
by our most faithful services, refers to the case 
of a servant who had no claim to receive thanks 
from his master, even when he had done the 
whole which had been required of him: 
" Doth he thank that servant because he did the 
things that were commanded him 1 I trow 
not." Is it not manifest that the servant, to 
which the Savior alluded, was something quite 
different from a hired man, who is always 
bringing his employer into debt by the labors 
of every hour ? I do not introduce the case 
of the servant, who received no thanks for his 
services, to prove that such servitude was right, 
or to show that it had the Savior's approval ; 
but merely to show that it existed. For the 
same purpose I would refer you to a remark 
which Paul made in his epistle to the Gala- 
tians : " Now I say, that the heir, as long as he 
is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, 
though he be lord of all ; but is under tutors and 
governors." The servant, whom the apostle 
here selects to illustrate the non-age of a child, 
was manifestly under the control of his master 
in a different sense from a hired laborer. Do 
not those passages in the New Testament 
where bond and free^ and bondman and free- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 47 

man^ are placed in opposition to each other, 
evidently suppose the existence of a servitude 
which is of the nature of slavery X for there is 
no such contrast, as these passages suppose, be- 
tween common laborers and their employers. 

But in this investigation we are chiefly con- 
cerned to know whether the servitude in ques- 
tion was found in the church : and, if it was 
found there, to know what Christians were re- 
quired to do in relation to it. That it was 
found in the church, as well as in the surround- 
ing world, is made evident to' my own mind by 
such arguments as I will now mention. 

(1.) JSTames descriptive of such servitude 
were applied to a portion of the members in 
the apostolic churches. In the dialect of that 
period, the name of servant^ when used in con- 
nection with that of master, meant a bondman. 
Paul encouraged the servants who were in the 
church of Ephesus to a conscientious obedience 
of their masters, by assuring them, ''Whatso- 
ever good thing any man doeth, the same shall 
he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or 
free,'''* The force of his argument obliges us 
to understand that bond^ in contradistinction 
from/ree, describes the condition they were in 
at the very time when they were thus address- 
ed. Nor did he say any thing at all contradic- 



48 Christ's kingdom 

tory to this ia his epistle to the Galatians, when 
he declared, " There is neither Jew nor Greek, 
there is neither bond nor free^ there is neither 
male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ :" 
for the members of Christ's church are one, in 
a very important sense, without supposing this 
unity to annihilate all those distinctions which 
previously existed among them. Male and fe- 
male are one in Christ ; and yet there remains 
not only the distinction of sex, but also that of 
rule and subordination, both in the private 
family and in the church of God. Paul, 
writing to Timothy, says, " Let as many servants 
as are under the yoke count their own masters 
worthy of all honor." If his calling them ser- 
vants did not fully decide their servile state in 
the family, it was decided by its being said of 
them, that they were under the yoke, 

(2.) There is an address to servants in the first 
epistle to the Corinthians which, in my view, 
is full proof that what we now call slavery had 
then an existence in the church. "Art thou 
called," said the apostle, "being a servant 'I 
care not for it; but if thou mayest be made 
free, use it rather." Here a comparison is 
drawn between the two states of servitude and 
freedom. The servant is admonished that the 
latter condition is to be preferred, if he can en- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 4^9 

joy it 5 but that if this should be impracticable he 
need not be discontented, seeing he has the 
great privilege of being Christ's freeman. 
Surely it could not have been a hired servant 
which the apostle had his eye upon in this ad- 
dress : for, in the first place, he would never 
have told the laborer that he had better be idle 
than to be employed : and, next, he would not 
have needed to advise a hired servant to use 
his liberty, in case he could obtain it ; for such 
a servant could not have lost his liberty. 

(3.) That the appellation servants, when 
used in the apostolic epistles, for the purpose of 
describing one part of the domestic circle, in- 
tended such servants as still held that relation 
to the family, may be inferred from this circum- 
stance, that it is introduced in connection with 
other domestic relations which had a present 
existence. iChe husbands and wives, the pa- 
rents and children^ which are spoken of, were 
such as still sustained those relations ; how then 
can we avoid understanding the same concern- 
ing masters and servants 1 As the catalogue 
commences with real relationships, does it not 
also end with them'? See Eph. chap. 5 and 
6 : Col. 8 and 4. 

(4.) We infer with great certainty that the 
masters and servants^ mentioned in the apos- 



50 Christ's kingdom 

tolic epistles, were not empty names, but real 
existing relations, from the circumstance, that 
duties growing out of these relations are strictly 
enjoined. While the men who have ceased to 
hold an ofBce, may still retain its honorary 
title, it neither obliges them to the performance 
of official duties, nor does it impose any obliga- 
tion on their fellow citizens to submit to their 
orders. The general and the judge, who have 
gone out of their respective offices, have no 
more control over the army or the court, be- 
cause they are yet distinguished by their form- 
er titles, than if their titles had gone into obliv- 
ion. 

Thus, I think, it is made apparent by the 
light of scripture alone, that in the days of the 
apostles there existed in the world, and even in 
the church, a servitude of the same nature of 
that which we call slavery. Having ascertain- 
ed that the masters and servants, who were 
fellow members in the New Testament church, 
were such as then held that relation to each 
other indicated by these names, it concerns us, 
in the next place, to know what the scripture 
says concerning the obligations connected with 
this relationship. 

We inquire, first, what the scripture says to 
the servants % Does it tell them to disregard 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 51 

the authority of their masters 1 Did not the 
apostles as strictly enjoin it upon servants to 
be subject to the authority of their masters, as 
they enjoined it upon Christians within the 
bounds of the empire to be subject to the au- 
thority of the Caesars ? Did they not make 
it an important article in the Christianity of 
those who were under the yoke of domestic 
bondage, that they should count their masters 
worthy of all honor'? Did they not consider 
such obedient conduct in servants as necessary 
to prevent the name of God and his doctrine 
from being blasphemed 7 It was enjoined on 
the servants, and that repeatedly, that they 
should obey in all things their masters accord- 
ing to the flesh, not with eye-service as men- 
pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. 
One of the apostles supposes a case where the 
masters were not Christians, but quite the re- 
verse 5 yet even in such a case, this is the di- 
rection he gives : " Servants, be subject to 
your masters with all fear, not only to the 
good and gentle, but also to the fro ward." 
Another apostle states a different case, where 
their masters are brethren in Christ. He cau- 
tions servants who are thus circumstanced 
against despising their masters, because they are 
brethren. He was afraid lest their equality in 



52 Christ's kingdom 

the church should make them forget their in- 
feriority in the family. The inculcation of 
subjection in two such opposite cases furnishes 
striking proof that the apostles, while they 
were guided by the spirit of inspiration, never 
uttered a syllable to encourage servants to 
break away from their masters, or refuse obedi- 
ence to their commands ; that is, to those 
commands which did not contravene the com- 
mands of the Most High. For whenever hu- 
man commands required disobedience to the 
divine, the apostles themselves did not feel 
that they were brought under obligation by the 
acts of any government on earth. Their max- 
im was, " We ought to obey God rather than 
man." 

In the countries which the apostles visited, 
for the purpose of extending the kingdom of 
Christ, they not only forbore to excite a 
spirit of insurrection among the slaves, by their 
own preaching and writings, but they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost to forbid others to do 
it ; more especially, to forbid such as held the 
office of teachers in the church. Paul, in his 
charge to Timothy, is very explicit in telling 
him what instructions to give to servants that 
were under the yoke, concerning their obedient 
and respectful treatment of their masters. 



.. I 



' NOT OF THIS WORLD. 53 

After being somewhat particular, he says, 
*' These things teach and exhort." Nor does 
he rest satisfied with this, but adds, " If any man 
teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome 
words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and to the doctrine which is according to godli- 
ness, he is proud, knowing nothing," &c. To 
Titus he gave similar directions in relation to 
this very subject. He says, " Exhort servants 
to be obedient to their own masters, and to 
please them well in all things ; not answering 
again ; not purloining, but showing all good 
fidelity ; that they may adorn the doctrine of 
God our Savior in all things." 1 Tim. 6. 1, 
2, 3. Col. 3. 22—25. Eph. 6. 5—8. 1 
Pet. 2. 18. 

We now feel an interest in knowing what 
these men of God, who were moved by the 
Holy Ghost to instruct the churches, said to the 
masters. After Paul had exhorted servants to 
perform the duties of their humble station in 
singleness of heart as unto Christ, he turns to 
their masters and says, " And ye, masters, do 
the same things unto them, forbearing threaten- 
ing ; knowing that your Master is in heaven, 
neither is there respect of persons with him." 
This he said to the masters who were in the 

church of Ephesus. He said much the same 

5* 



54 ' CHRIST- S KINGDOM 

to the masters in the church at Colosse. Did 
he require them to manumit their servants 1 
He does not mention it. However much he 
might have rejoiced in seeing them do it of 
their own accord, he did not feel himself au- 
thorized to enjoin it, but based his instructions 
to them on the relation which then existed be- 
tween them and their servants , and inculcated 
such duties as the continuance of that relation 
would render obligatory. See Scott's Notes on 
1 Tim. 6. 1—5. 

I discover no place in the apostolic epistles 
where manumission is directly enjoined, unless 
it be thus enjoined by Paul on his fellow- 
laborer Philemon. The apostle, after being 
made the instrument of the conversion of One- 
simus, his fugitive servant, sends him back to 
his master with a request that he might be fa- 
vorably received — " Not now as a servant, but 
above a servant, a brother beloved." But this 
expressive language, when viewed in connec- 
tion with the whole epistle, seems to imply no 
more than the obligation that Philemon was un- 
der to receive Onesimus back into his family, 
as something m.ore now than a mere servant, 
even a beloved brother. 

This, as it seems to me, is a plain unsophis- 
ticated statement of what the New Testament 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 55 

says on this much agitated question. Nor dare 
I, for the sake of avoiding a popular outcry, 
give a different and unnatural interpretation to 
the word of God. Now, at the first glance, 
this subject may present such a difficulty to 
our minds as to cause us to exclaim, "How 
can these things be ! How can He, who made 
of one blood all the nations of men, be the au- 
thor of a book that does so much to favor a 
practice which is manifestly repugnant to be- 
nevolence and justice!^' But let us, my 
brethren, on this occasion call to mind an 
interrogation which was addressed to an an- 
cient saint, when laboring under a dispensation 
of providence uncommonly dark and inexplica- 
ble : ^' Shall he that contendeth with the Al- 
mighty instruct him 1 he that reproveth God, 
let him answer it." 

Poor imperfect men appear often to be griev- 
ed with God, because he is not as merciful as 
themselves. Some have doubtless imagined 
that, could they have the re-modeling of his 
word, they should greatly improve it. But 
surely we ought to know, that after we have 
received a written communication from the 
only wise God, accompanied with divine cre- 
dentials, it becomes us to employ our faculties 
in discovering the wisdom displayed in such 



56 Christ's kingdom 

communication, rather than in contriving me- 
thods to improve it. If He has said things in 
his word, which are so covered with a cloud 
that we cannot now see through and discover 
the reason why he said them, may it not be, 
that what we know not now we shall know 
hereafter! 

You will recollect I have already remarked 
that there are two different ways taken by 
those who agree in believing the inspiration of 
the Bible, to free it from the odium drawn upon 
it by the subject of slavery. I have shown that 
one class seeks to remove the odium, by as- 
serting that the servitude, which was recognised 
and legislated upon in the New Testament, did 
not partake of the nature of involuntary bond- 
age. Did I believe this to be a true interpre- 
tation of God's word, I would not lift a finger 
to oppose it. But you already perceive, my 
hearers, that, with the view which I have taken 
of God's word, it would be wrong for me to 
adopt this method to prevent its being vilified 
and reproached. Nor do I deem this method 
to be necessary for its vindication. While I 
avow my belief that the servants, whom the 
New Testament required should obey their mas- 
ters as a matter of moral obligation, were bond- 
merij I can add, it is also my belief, that these 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 57 

requisitions were more perfect than any others, 
which, under existing circumstances, could have 
been given them. I pray you let these two 
considerations be duly weighed : 

First. Such was the state of the world when 
Christ sent his gospel abroad among the nations 
that slavery was interwoven with the very 
texture of human society. It could not have 
been done away except by the legislative acts 
of the governments where it existed. But it 
was not compatible with the genius of Christ's 
spiritual kingdom to make a demand on these 
governments for the passing of such legislative 
acts. The religion of Christ makes its appeal 
to men as the rightful, though revolted, subjects 
of God's moral kingdom : and this appeal is 
made to them more particularly in their indi- 
vidual capacity. Every one is required to re- 
turn from his unreasonable revolt, though the 
community in its corporate capacity should be 
for holding on its rebellion. Without waiting 
for alterations to be made in the frame- work of 
civil society, even in relation to the subject now 
in question, Christ wished his religion to be forth- 
with introduced among every people. He 
knew it to be adapted not only to save the souls 
of men from endless death, but also to meliorate 
the condition of every portion of society, as far 



58 Christ's kingdom 

as its influence was felt, not excepting those 
who were in domestic bondage. 

On this important subject I will take the 
liberty to place before you the sentiments of 
that judicious commentator Dr. Scott, as they are 
exhibited in his notes on Eph. 6. 5—9. "St. 
Paul next exhorts servants, who had embraced 
Christianity, to be obedient to their own mas- 
ters, according to the flesh, or to whom they 
were subjected in temporal matters. In gener- 
al, the servants at that time were slaves, the 
property of their masters; and often treated 
with great severity, though seldom with modern 
cruelty. But the apostles were ministers of re- 
ligion, not politicians; they had not that influ- 
ence among rulers and legislators, which would 
have been requisite to the abolition of slavery ; 
and in that state of society, as to other things, 
this would not have been expedient, as God did 
not please miraculously to interpose in the case ; 
and they did not deem it proper to exaspe- 
rate their persecutors, by expressly contend- 
ing against the lawfulness of slavery. Yet, 
both the law of love, and the gospel of grace, 
tend to its abolition ; and the universal preva- 
lence of Christianity must annihilate it, with 
many other evils, which in the present state of 
things cannot be wholly avoided. In the wis- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 59 

dom of G od, the apostles were left to take such 
matters as they found them, and to teach ser- 
vants and masters their respective duties 5 in the 
performance of which the evil would be miti- 
gated ; till, in due time, it should be extermin- 
ated by Christian legislators." 

Secondly. The religion of Christ by giving 
such a prominence to the one thing needful, 
as to throw every thing else out of sight, was 
in the very best manner adapted to arrest the 
attention of a world lying in wickedness. It 
makes the glorifying and enjoying of God man's 
chief end. It merges all the distinctions exist- 
ing among men in this one supreme object. 
" By one Spirit we are all baptized into one 
body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether 
we be bond or free.'' When the gospel comes 
to the bondman it proffers him a freedom infi- 
nitely more desirable than that which it is in 
the power of his master to give him. If he has 
attained this freedom, he is told he need enter- 
tain but little anxiety concerning the other. 
" Art thou called being a servant ] care not for 
it — for he that is called in the Lord, being a 
servant, is the Lord's freeman." '' Let the 
brother of low degree rejoice in that he is ex- 
alted." His religion, by which he is brought 
into a holy and everlasting union with the Son 
of God, does more to exalt him than could be 



60 CHRIST S KINGDOM 

done by all the riches and honors of the earth. 
Do you not believe, my brethren, that a religion 
which throws all sublunary things into the 
shade, is better calculated to make a deep im- 
pression on the public mind than if it were 
otherwise constructed 1 Two kinds of servi- 
tude exist : the one on the part of the ser- 
vant is innocent, the other is criminal ^ the one 
can last no longer than this life, the other may 
last forever. Now, if a slave-holding govern- 
ment would have permitted the ministers of 
Christ to come among its servile population, to 
preach against both kinds of servitude, it is 
quite a question whether it would have been as 
well adapted to subserve the best interests of 
that class of community, as the method which 
was prescribed and actually pursued. 

Thus have I endeavored, by exhibiting the 
spiritual character of Christ's kingdom, to give 
some probable reasons why his ministers were 
instructed to enjoin subjection upon servants, 
instead of enjoining emancipation upon their 
masters. But as a desire to protect God's book, 
rather than to encourage slavery, has been my ob- 
ject in these discourses, I now propose to show that 
there are things in this holy book which have a 
very favorable aspect upon that class of men 
who are in servitude. 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 61 

1. They are made as welcome as any others 
to the blessings of the gospel. " The poor have 
the gospel preached to them." The commission 
which we have received from the chief Shepherd 
is, to "go into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature," without distinction 
of nation or rank. Both the door of the church 
and the gate of heaven stand open to the servant 
as well as to his master. " There is neither 
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor /ree, 
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." That God, 
with whom there is no respect of persons, gives 
the servant the same free access to the mercy 
seat which he gives to his master. If the ser- 
vant is Christ's freeman, while the master is Sa- 
tan's slave, God will treat each of them accord- 
ing to his spiritual character, not his external 
condition : the servant he will bring near to 
him 5 but the master he will know afar off. 
They who are admitted to heaven will not be 
put any higher for having been masters in this 
world, nor any lower because they were ser- 
vants. If the scriptures had intimated that in 
God's kingdom above, where there are no subor- 
dinate governments to interfere with His, some 
of his subjects would be degraded because their 
skin was black, or because their condition had 
been servile, in undertaking to account for it, 



62 Christ's kingdom 

we should be non-plussed. But there is no such 
intimation given. The crown of glory will be 
bright, not according to the rank we sustained 
in our probationary state, but according to the 
service which we rendered to our Master in 
heaven. 

2. The Scriptures do not allow masters to 
be haughty and imperious, but require them to 
be kind and parental ; and to remember that 
their servants are not brutes, but fellow men 
and fellow servants under a heavenly Master. 
"And ye masters," said Paul, "do the same 
thing to them, forbearing threatening , knowing 
that your Master also is in heaven : neither is 
there respect of persons with him." Again he 
said, "Masters, give unto your servants that 
which is just and equal ; knowing that ye have 
a Master in heaven." The masters were re- 
quired to remember that the duties of the rela- 
tion between them and their servants were re- 
ciprocal ; obliging them to treat their servants 
in such a manner as to meet the approbation of 
their common Master. Abraham is commended 
for giving a religious training not to his children 
only, but to his whole household, comprehend- 
ing his servants. Gen. 18. 19. These received 
the seal of God's gracious covenant in common 
with those who were the fruit of his own body. 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 63 

Job did not feel that he could have cleared him- 
self from the charge of hypocrisy, which was 
alleged against him, had he not been able to tes- 
tify that he did not despise the cause of his man 
servant, or his maid servant, when they contend- 
ed with him. Job 31. 13-15. 

3. As far as slavery is the fruit of man-steal- 
ing it is pointedly condemned by the Scriptures. 
When God connected the civil with the ecclesias- 
tical government of Israel, this was made a capi- 
tal crime. " He that stealeth a man and selleth 
him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall 
surely be put to death." Ex. 21. 16. 

4. Those Jewish laws, which provided for the 
Hebrew servant to go out free at the end of six 
years of servitude, had a favorable aspect on this 
class of men. Ex. 21. 2. Another law which 
had a favorable aspect was that which forbade 
the Israelites to deliver up the fugitive slave who 
had escaped to their country for protection. Deut. 
23. 15, 16. This showed that their Divine 
Lawgiver considered the bondman to be worthy 
of their sympathy and kindness. He would not 
therefore have him delivered up, as though he 
had been a felon, merely on account of his es- 
cape from bondage ; especially as it was also an 
escape from the darkness of pagan idolatry. I 
would here remark that the fugitive servant, 



64« Christ's kingdom 

whom they were required to protect, instead of 
delivering him up to his master, must doubtless 
refer to one who should flee to them from 
another nation : for so long as servitude was 
tolerated by their laws, their government would 
have been wanting in self-consistency, if it had 
allowed them to detain the servants of their fel- 
low citizens. 

5. The Scriptures reveal it as an important 
article of our faith, that mankind of every lan- 
guage and complexion are descended from a 
common stock. Paul told the Athenians that 
God, who made the world, made of one blood 
all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face 
of the earth. Acts 17. 24-26. Between men 
and beasts there is a wide difference — a differ- 
ence founded in nature. But between the tribes 
of men there is no such fundamental difference. 
We are all made after the similitude of God, 
having souls which are rational and immortal. 
The chief difference that exists between the 
tribes of Adam is produced by the different ad- 
vantages which they enjoy for the cultivation of 
their minds. The same people who in one period 
of their history are barbarians, in a subsequent 
period become civilized and refined. And here 
let me say, that though the scriptures give a 
toleration to involuntary servitude, I do not 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 65 

know of any place where they teach us that 
white men have a right to make slaves of black 
men^ any more than black men have a right to 
make slaves of the whites. They no where give 
such a preference to one complexion over 
another. 

I readily concede that the slavery of the Afri- 
cans is a fulfilment of an early prediction con- 
cerning the future condition of the three grand 
branches of the family of Noah, the father of the 
new world. Gen. 9. 18-27. But who will 
dare to plead such a prediction to justify our 
making slaves of the descendants of Ham % It 
was predicted that the Egyptians would enslave 
the Israelites; and it was also predicted that 
God would punish them for doing it. Gen. 15. 
13, 14. It was predicted that the Jews would 
crucify their Messiah: but was their sin any 
less aggravated because of its prediction % Or 
have they been punished any less severely, be- 
cause their wickedness fulfilled the counsels of 
God % The question with us should not be, 
What has the Lord purposed to bring to pass % 
but. What has he commanded us to do % There 
cannot be the least doubt that the cruel slave 
trade, by which so many of the sons of Ham 
have been carried away by the hand of violence 
from their native land into perpetual bondange, 

will be found to constitute no small item in the 
5# 



66 Christ's kingdom 

gujlt of their brethren the sons of Shem and 
Japheth. 

6. Though the religion of the Son of God 
does not abrogate slavery by an express statute, 
it inculcates principles whose manifest tendency 
is to effect its abrogation. It requires every 
man to love his neighbor (i. e. his fellow man,) 
as himself 5 and to treat others as he would rea- 
sonably wish them to treat him, in case their 
circumstances were reversed. It forbids us to 
despise the poor, and requires us to condescend 
to men of low estate. It enjoins it upon us to 
manifest our benevolent regard to our neighbor 
by doing him all the good in our power. Its 
spirit and language is, " As therefore we have 
opportunity, let us do good unto all men." See 
Mark 12. 31. Matt. 7. 12. Rom. 12. 16. 
Gal. 6. 10. Let these principles have their full 
influence on those who hold their fellow men 
in bondage, and w^hat will be the result 1 Will 
they not result in the removal of the yoke of 
bondage ? If they do not in every instance pro- 
duce an immediate emancipation of their ser- 
vants, they will prompt them to the immediate 
use of means to prepare the way for it. If the 
masters should say, Our servants are as yet un- 
qualified for self government 5 it may be replied, 
If you love them as yourselves, you will exert 
your influence over them to qualify them for 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 67 

self government. And since it is a true pro- 
verb, that " it is not good for the soul to be 
without knowledge," a proper concern for their 
welfare will lead you, instead of withholding 
instruction from them, to impart it freely. 

Nothing can be more evident than the bene- 
volent nature of our holy religion. As soon as 
it is cordially embraced it awakens in us a ten- 
der concern for the happiness of our fellow men. 
If they are ignorant and out of the way, it en- 
kindles in our breasts a compassion for them, 
accompanied with a desire to remove their ig- 
norance and reclaim them from their wander- 
ings. When this religion has taken the throne 
of the heart, it will not suffer us to feel indiffer- 
ent towards the happiness of those who are dis- 
tinguished from us by language or complexion, 
and separated from us by rivers and oceans. If 
we hear that they are in a degraded and wretch- 
ed condition, we are impelled to contrive ways 
for their relief. To meet their wants we send 
them the gospel of the grace of God. Some go 
in person, to explain by word and example the 
gospel we send them. And certainly, if it is 
the nature of this divine religion to extend its 
benevolent concern to the ignorant and degrad- 
ed who are in the ends of the earth, it cannot 
overlook such objects of compassion who are in 
our own land, and within our domestic circles. 



DISCOURSE III. 



Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world.— John 18. 36. 

Christian brethren, I have again read in your 
hearing these precious words of the Savior, 
which declare that the kingdom that he has set 
up in the world is not of the world. 

I felt desirous of detaining you a little longer 
on this important passage, that I might have an 
opportunity more directly to show the influence 
which I think it may exert in healing some of 
the divisions that now exist among the subjects 
of this spiritual kingdom. 

Christ gave his disciples an express command- 
ment to love one another. Paul charged them 
to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in 
the bond of peace. Peter exhorted them to be 
of one mind, to love as brethren, to be pitiful 
— to be courteous— to seek peace and pursue it. 
And the beloved disciple was frequent in urg- 
ing Christians to live in love. John 13. 34, 
35. Eph. 4. 3. 1 Peter 3. 8, 11. 1 John 
4.7, 11,20,21. 

Have these injunctions of Christ and his apos- 



Christ's kingdom not of this world. 69 

ties become either obsolete or unimportant 1 If 
they have not, why are they so much disregard- 
ed at the present day 1 The Israel of God is not 
only divided into different tribes, but every tribe 
has its subdivisions. In view of these distrac- 
tions, which greatly expose us to the assults of 
the enemy, let us search for their cause. Is not 
this one cause of our distractions, that we have 
lost sight of the spiritual character of that king- 
dom whereof we are subjects'? 

That we live in a very trying period, must 
be evident to all. It is therefore a matter of the 
highest consequence that we, who profess to be 
the subjects of the kingdom of Christ, should 
know what part we have to act at such a crisis 
as this. One thing is clear, that we are required 
to make the building up of His kingdom our su- 
preme object. To this, every thing relating to 
the kingdoms and interests of this world, must 
be made subordinate. In this sentiment we 
shall be agreed, at least so far as we are imbued 
with the spirit of Christ. Concerning the 
means to be used for the advancement of this 
holy kingdom, its real friends may possibly be 
disagreed ; and this disagreement may have a 
distracting influence. But is there no way for 
them to become agreed, even as to the means 
which they shall use for its advancement 1 And 



70 Christ's kingdom 

what other way is as well adapted to produce 
an agreement in this matter, as for them all to 
repair to the law and to the testimony '? Christ 
tells us to search the scriptures^ and Paul exhorts 
us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, 
A sacred regard to his word is the only thing 
which can produce any consistent harmony 
among his subjects. As his kingdom is diverse 
from all others, so it has a statute book of its 
own, to regulate all its internal affairs. And 
since this book, which reveals the mind of Christ, 
represents his kingdom to be spiritual and not 
secular, or in other words, a kingdom which 
has no interference with the governments of this 
world, is it not clearly the duty of Christians^ 
even in this age, distinguished for improvements, 
to be united in seeking its advancement as a 
kingdom which is exclusively spiritual 1 

I conclude we are all agreed in believing it 
to be the duty of the church, whether located 
under monarchical or free governments, to send 
missionaries to teach all nations the religion of 
Christ. And shall we not also be agreed, that 
the instructions which are to be imparted by 
these missionaries are to be the same, whatever 
may happen to be the form of civil government 
in those countries from which they are sent. 
This does not necessarily suppose that the mis- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 71 

sionaries are required to feel indifferent on this 
subject, but it supposes them to understand that 
the kingdom, whose extension they are commis- 
sioned to promote, is wholly of a spiritual char- 
acter, having no direct collision with any form 
of civil dominion. If the religion, which they 
carry to the nations sitting in darkness, shall 
eventually better their civil condition, it will 
give them pleasure ; but this is not the object of 
their mission. It is one of immensely greater 
importance, namely, to translate men from the 
power of darkness — from the kingdom of Satan 
— into the kingdom of God's dear Son. 

Here let me state a case which may possibly 
occur. I will suppose, that when a number of 
the disciples of Christ are met for the purpose 
of forming a constitution for a missionary socie- 
ty, some of their number were to make a mo- 
tion, that either in the preamble or in some dis- 
tinct article, the association should clearly ex- 
hibit their views on the subject of civil govern- 
ment, so as to declare their united abhorrence of 
every thing of the nature of despotism 5 would 
not a right understanding of the spiritual char- 
acter of Christ's kingdom be sufficient to settle 
the point, and bring them all to act in unison % 
Would they not evidently act out of character, 
as a missionary meeting, even to go into a de- 



72 Christ's kingdom 

bate on the merits of the question, whether mon- 
archy or democracy is the best form of govern- 
ment 1 If they were all to a man in favor of a 
democratic al form, still nothing could possibly 
be more improper than for them, in the capaci- 
ty of a missionary association, to express that 
preference. They are met to provide means to 
effect a moral revolution through all Satan's em- 
pire. To effect this, they propose to send the 
ministers of the gospel into some countries 
where the inhabitants are ruled by absolute 
sovereigns. And do we not all know that Christ 
does not send his ministers to teach rebellion 
and excite insurrections 1 

There probably are few spots on the globe 
where the people have less liberty than in the 
Sandwich Islands : but the missionaries have 
not taught them to rebel against their king and 
his chiefs. While they have taught them to 
desert the standard of the prince of darkness, 
and become reconciled to prince Immanuel, 
they have inculcated a conscientious subjection 
to their civil rulers. And is there a Christian 
in the whole church who does not fully ap- 
prove the course they have taken '? 

I will state another case. I will suppose 
that, in such a missionary meeting as that which 
has already been described, a proposal should 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 73 

be made to insert an article expressive of their 
sentiments on the subject of slavery ; (for ex- 
ample, an article which should exclude slave- 
holders from a place in the society, or their con- 
tributions from a place in its funds,) would there 
not be the same reason for objecting against its 
insertion % Instead of going into a debate on 
the question, whether slavery be right or wrong, 
would not this be the first inquiry : Is this a pro- 
per question for a missionary convention to de- 
bate 1 To decide this, it would behoove them 
again to repair to the lavv and to the testimony 
to obtain light. Is there evidence that this sub- 
ject was looked at by the King of Zion, and by 
those men who, under the guidance of his uner- 
ring Spirit, were commissioned to be the first pro- 
pagators of his gospel % If so, it iscle ar that their 
precepts and practice in relation to it must have 
a binding influence on all those who come after 
them. If such an article was not inserted in 
that inspired constitution, which is to regulate 
the whole missionary work, until the earth shall 
become evangelized, does it not afford convic- 
tion to our minds that such an article would 
now be inappropriate ? Were we able to say 
that those who framed this divine constitution 
appear never to have thought of the matter, it 
7 



74 Christ's kingdom 

would be quite different. It seems they did 
think of it, and were explicit in giving rules 
concerning it. The subject was repeatedly in- 
troduced by the apostles in their inspired epis- 
tles 5 as I have already had occasion to show. It 
is distinctly noticed in six of Paul's epistles and 
in one of Peter's. See 1 Cor. 7. 20—22. 
Eph. 6. 5. Col. 3. 22—25. 1 Tim. 6. 1—4. 
Tit. 2. 9, 10. Philemon. 1 Pet. 2. 18. 

These men, who were guided by that wisdom 
which is from above — that wisdom which can- 
not err — appear not to have raised the question. 
Is slavery right 1 any more than, Is monarchy 
right 1 While they gave no direct expression 
of their sentiments on these questions, they hes- 
itated not to inculcate on their fellow disciples 
subjection both to the master 3.ud to the sovereign. 
Nor did they allow the unworthiness of the man 
who held the place of master or sovereign, to re- 
lease either the servant or the subject from obli- 
gation to his commands. Christ required his 
disciples to submit to the monarchs of Rome, 
In accordance with this, Paul exhorted every 
soul to be subject to the higher powers \ and 
exhorted servants to obey in all things their 
masters according to the flesh. Peter said, 
" Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man 



NOT OF. THIS WORLD. 75 

for the Lord^s sake. — Honor the king. — Servants 
be subject unto your masters with all fear, not 
only to the good and gentle, but also to the 
fro ward." 

We have only two inspired epistles which 
were directed to men engaged in the work of 
the gospel ministry.^ They were both written 
by Paul ; one of them to Timothy and the other 
to Titus. In each of them the subject in ques- 
tion is noticed, and noticed in such a way as to 
show it to be incumbent on the ministers of 
Christ to exhort servants to be obedient to their 
masters. In one of them, namely, that which 
was written to his son Timothy, he taught him 
not only what was his own duty in relation to this 
subject, but proceeded pointedly to censure the 
conduct of any Christian teacher who should 
take a different course. After saying, " These 
things" (that is, things relating to the subjection 
of servants to their masters, whether believing 
or unbelieving) " teach and exhort," he adds, 
" If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to 
wholesome words, even the words of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is ac- 
cording to godliness, he is proud, knowing noth- 
ing," &c. 

* If Philemon was a minister there are three." 



76 , Christ's kingdom 

By consulting these apostolic writings, is it 
not made perfectly evident, in case Paul, and 
Peter, and their fellow workers, the first mis- 
sionaries of the cross, could have a voice in the 
missionary meeting which we have supposed, 
that they would object to the insertion of the 
proposed article 1 Would they not tell us that 
they spake, wrote, and acted in relation to this 
subject as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 1 
Would they not tell us that what we find in 
their epistles was written for our admonition, 
upon whom the ends of the world are come % 
That it was left for the instruction of all who 
should follow them in the great work of evan- 
gelizing the nations 1 

Some may, however, imagine that with all the 
increase of light which has been poured on this 
subject, it behooves missionary societies at the 
present day to be explicit in the avowal of their 
sentiments. Doubtless it behooves them to be 
explicit in avowing their sentiments concerning 
the great and distinguishing doctrines of salva- 
tion : but if thoy and all Christendom were 
unanimous in their abhorrence of slavery, this, 
as it seems to me, w^ould not be a proper occasion 
for them to express that abhorrence. If we have 
the light, the nations which we are attempting 



NOT OF THIS WOKLD. 77 

to christianize are sitting in darkness. Their 
darkness, it is true, extends to such matters as 
civil government and domestic servitude, as well 
as to the subject of religion. Yet while the 
gospel seeks to dispel all their darkness, and 
give them light on every subject which will im- 
prove their character and condition, its chief 
anxiety and more appropriate work, is to dissi- 
pate their moral darkness, and bring them into 
an acquaintance with the God who made them> 
and the Savior who died for their redemption. 
The other matters are viewed as being of such 
minor importance as to be thrown wholly into the 
back ground. Were Christian missionaries to 
give a prominence to those other matters 5 for ex- 
ample, were they in their sermons to express a 
sentiment concerning the form of civil govern- 
ment or domestic servitude, would they not there- 
by hinder the gospel of Christ ] Would not such 
a divergency from their proper work cause those 
for whose salvation they labor, to stop their ears 
against the instructions they present concerning 
those weightier matters which relate to God and 
eternity 1 

Is there not therefore the same reason, at the 
present period, to say to the heralds of salvation 
who are sent forth to disciple the nations, " Be 



78 Christ's kingdom 

determined not to know any thing among the 
apostate children of Adam, wherever you go, 
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified," as there 
was for giving such instructions to those who 
were sent forth on this errand eighteen hundred 
years ago 1 Whatever topics it behooves the 
missionaries to leave untouched in their minis- 
trations among the heathen, should manifestly 
be left untouched in the constitution of the So- 
ciety which sends them forth : for this, as well 
as the Bible, they should take in their hands. 
The latter will show their authority as it is de- 
rived from Christ the Head of the Church, while 
the other will prove that in their missionary en- 
terprise they have the fellowship and co-opera- 
tion of their Christian brethren. 

If we have been able to understand the script- 
ures on this subject, I would ask my Christian 
brethren, whether it be right to charge the mem- 
bers of a missionary society with being pro- 
slavery men ; or even to charge them with cow- 
ardice in the avowal of their sentiments, merely 
because, in their associate capacity, they ob- 
serve a studied silence and refuse to agitate the 
slavery question 1 Were this a sufficient ground 
for such charges, would they not lie equally 
against Christ and his Apostles 1 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 79 

Will not a right understanding of the spiritual 
character of Christ's kingdom, as being perfectly 
distinct from the kingdoms of this world, do 
much to give a right direction to the efforts of 
those of his subjects whose lot it has been to 
come on the stage of life at this period, when 
the slavery question is doing so much to agitate 
the public mind 1 The question with us should 
not be, what course will be the most popular 1 
but what course is pointed out by our King ? 
What will please him ? I have already ex- 
pressed my belief, that His religion is calculated 
to do away the whole system of domestic slavery. 
If then it is the tendency of the religion of Christ 
to subvert slavery, the question will arise, wheth- 
er the Christian church ought not to purge itself 
from this evil as fast as possible by the power of 
discipline. This is a very interesting question, 
and one which deeply concerns the welfare of 
Christ's kingdom. And how shall it be answer- 
ed 1 All the loyal subjects of the kingdom will 
agree in saying, it must be determined by refer- 
ring to our statute book. Christ is King in 
Zion, and his word is our only safe directory. 

But perhaps it v/ill be said, " We have a 
right to institute discipline relating to crimes 
which are not specifically named in this divine 



80 Christ's kingdom 

directory 5 such as gambling, horse-racing, and 
the like, provided we can show that they are at 
variance with the general spirit of the script- 
ures." This is conceded. But where our 
King has himself legislated, it must be our duty 
to regulate our discipline by his legislation, 
whether we are able to discover the wisdom of 
it or not. If our King has not interfered with 
civil polity, but has required us to be subject to 
the various governments under which we live, 
it clearly intimates his will, that we should bring 
no charges against each other in the administra- 
tion of the laws of his kingdom, on account of 
the preference any of us shall happen to give to 
this or that side in the political world 5 or to the 
preference we give to this or that mode of civil 
government. According to the spirit of his 
kingdom, the monarch of the Sandwich Islands 
could be received into the bosom of his church, 
(provided he had suitable moral qualifications,) 
without being required to relinquish his throne, 
or even alter the structure of his government. 
The laws of Christ would require him to rule 
righteously, and act the part of a father to his 
people ,• but they would not compel him to re- 
nounce his place as an absolute sovereign. 
Here some may wish to ask, whether the 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 81 

King of Zion has been sufficiently explicit con- 
cerning domestic servitude, to direct the disci- 
pline of his church in relation to this subject 1 
Some may think, that this whole system of 
servitude is so hostile to the benevolent spir- 
it of the gospel, that nothing can be plain- 
er than the propriety of instituting a course 
of discipline against the man who refuses 
to let these oppressed ones go free. But if the 
King himself has a statute on this very case, 
ought it not to regulate the decisions of his 
church ? And has he not a statute touching the 
case in question 1 The case repeatedly comes 
before us in the New Testament. At present 
let us look at what is recorded at the beginning 
of the last chapter of Paul's first epistle to Tim- 
othy : " Let as many servants as are under the 
yoke count their own masters worthy of all 
honor ; that the name of God and his doctrine 
be not blasphemed. And they that have believ- 
ing masters, let them not despise them, because 
they are brethren : but rather do them service, 
because they are faithful and beloved, partakers 
of the benefit. These things teach and exhort." 
This statute recognizes masters and servants as 
fellow subjects in Christ's spiritual kingdom, and 
thus sustaining the relation of Christian brethren 



82 Christ's kingdom 

without a discontinuance of their old relation as 
masters and servants. 

It may be urged, that, in view of the addi- 
tional light which has been poured on this sub- 
ject since the days of the apostles, it now be- 
comes the duty of the church to enact new laws 
in relation to it — laws which shall be more in 
accordance with public sentiment and the exist- 
ing state of affairs in the civilized world. That 
the augmentation of light on this subject in- 
creases the obligation of masters to release their 
servants from involuntary bondage, is a matter of 
which I have no doubt. But does it give us 
liberty to say to them " You shall release your 
servants ; and unless you do it, we will exclude 
you from the visible kingdom of Christ ?" When 
they refer us back to those inspired rules which 
were given on purpose to regulate the internal 
government of this kingdom, what shall we say 1 
We shall not pretend that the law-making pow- 
er is intrusted with us : or that we have a right, 
by rules of our own forming, -to set aside those 
which were given us by our Master. 

They, who would now exclude from the 
church every master who does not immediately 
emancipate his servants, imagine they find a way 
to get over the difficulty arising from the divine 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 83 

enactment, to which I have referred, by show- 
ing that certain other evils, which were tolerated 
for a time, were afterwards expressly disal- 
lowed. They tell us, that Moses wrote a pre- 
cept for the Israelites concerning divorces, which 
Christ annulled 5 declaring the practice to be 
one that never pleased God, but was suffered on 
account of the hardness of their heart : also, that 
God once tolerated polygamy, and yet afterward 
forbad it, as a thing which was contrary to the 
original law of marriage. These examples have 
some pertinency in relation to the case before 
us, so far as they serve to show, that in God's 
government over men in the present life, he has 
seen fit to tolerate things which he does not re- 
quire, yea, things which, from the whole spirit of 
his word, we may learn that he actually con- 
demns. And for myself, I have no doubt that 
the servitude termed slavery, is one of those 
things. Should a pro-slavery-man adduce the 
passages of God's word, where the relations of 
master and servant are recognized, and the duties 
of each relation inculcated, as proof that God has 
no displeasure in slavery, it v/ill be to our point 
to make it appear that other relations (such as 
that between a husband and a company of 
wives) have been recognized in the scriptures, 



84 Christ's kingdom 

and the duties resulting from them enjoined ; and 
yet those relations have afterwards been shown 
to have been tolerated rather than approved : 
also, to make it appear that things have been 
suffered for a while on account of the hardness 
of men's hearts, (such as the husband's giving 
his wife a divorce for a multitude of causes,) 
which at length it was declared should be suf- 
fered no longer. 

But all must see that there is one important 
difference between the examples adduced, and 
the case which we have under our eye. In 
those examples we have divine authority for 
granting, and also for revoking the act of tolera- 
tion. But in the case before us, we have the 
toleration act unrevoked. If those tolerations 
which were granted in the Old Testament had 
not been revoked in the New, by the same author- 
ity which granted them, I would ask whether 
we should be justifiable in excluding a man 
from the church for having a plurality of wives, 
or for having put away his wife for some other 
cause beside that which is specified by the 
Savior % 

It might have been consistent, even while po- 
lygamy and the lax system in relation to di- 
vorces were sustained by a divine act of tolera- 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 85 

tion, where any one had become convinced it 
would be more pleasing to God, that a man 
should have but one wife at once, and that he 
should bear with her infirmities, instead of put- 
ting her away, — I say it might have been con- 
sistent, that he should have sought to dissuade 
his brethren from availing themselves of these 
toleration acts, by showing them that the things 
in question were merely suffered^ not approved. 
It would have been consistent for him to have 
argued with his brethren, counselled and ex- 
horted them : but would it have been right for 
him to have sought to drive them from the 
church, at the very time while the toleration 
act in their favor remained unrepealed % Would 
it, for example, have been right for Lot to have 
treated Abraham as a heathen man, as soon as 
he married Hagar % 

The New Testament injunction, to honor 
the king, obliges those Christians who live 
under a kingly government, to submit to it ; 
but it does not forbid them, in common with 
their fellow-subjects, to seek, in the use of 
peaceable measures, to effect a change in the 
frame of their government. So while the 
church is not allowed to make any direct 
attack on that appendage of civil society which 
8 



86 Christ's kingdom 

relates to servitude, individual Christians have 
a right, in common with their fellow-citizens, to 
plead the cause of the enslaved, and by peacea- 
ble measures to attempt an entire change in the 
laws relating to this subject. Wilberforce, as a 
member of the British parliament, acted a noble 
part in seeking to abolish the slave trade, and 
drive slavery from the kingdom. The friends 
of humanity approve of his zeal and rejoice in 
his success. But had he, in the capacity of a 
member of the household of faith, sought to 
procure an ecclesiastical enactment to excom- 
municate from the church every man who did 
not release his slaves, would such a procedure 
have corresponded with those inspired enact- 
ments which relate to this subject 1 His reli- 
gion fitted him for his elevated station in civil 
society , and this was the place for him to put 
forth the energies of his noble mind, to change 
the very structure of that society in relation to 
the subject of slavery. As soon as this can be 
effected, the laws of Christ withdraw from the 
master all right of retaining his servants in 
bondage, and release them from their obligation 
to remain in his service. 

We know that it was predicted that the 
kingdom which the God of heaven should set 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 87 

up, would break in pieces the kingdoms which 
had been set up by the successive conquerors of 
the earth. But how was this prediction to be 
carried into effect 1 Not by sending hostile 
armies against them ; nor by any direct attack 
upon their civil institutions ; but by rectifying 
their views concerning God and his govern- 
ment, and by producing a merciful change in 
the character of their whole population. Men 
all over the earth can be received into the 
kingdom of God, without abjuring allegiance to 
their earthly sovereigns, or without so much as 
being asked, in relation to civil government, to 
give their opinion concerning its best form of 
administration. What could have been more 
contrary to the genius of the gospel and to the 
spirit of the commission which the apostles re- 
ceived from their Master, than to have seen 
them forming some churches composed of royal- 
ists, and some of republicans '? Or to have seen 
them inserting articles in their formularies 
which should relate to these political questions ? 
Perhaps some may think that in a country 
where regal authority has been put down, and 
a popular government established, it would not 
be improper for Christians to insert in their con- 
fession of faith an article expressive of their 



88 Christ's kii^^gdom 

abhorrence of monarchy. Such an article 
might not be as mischievous as it would have 
been while the government they were under 
was monarchical 5 but I think it would be 
equally improper and out of place. It must 
make an awkward appearance among the arti- 
cles of a Christian church. 

Will not the remark which has just been 
made apply also to the subject of slavery 1 It 
has been shown, if I do not greatly mistake, 
that the apostles did not consider themselves 
authorized, as the ministers of religion, to re- 
quire the abolition of slavery, any more than 
the abolition of monarchy. They introduced 
no article into their creed relating to this topic. 
They formed churches w^hich were composed of 
masters, in connection with their servants who 
still remained under the yoke. They appear 
never to have thought of suffering different 
opinions concerning the lawfulness of servitude, 
to be the occasion of giving rise to distinct 
church organizations. Surely if masters and 
their servants could live peaceably together in the 
same communion, those who differed merely in 
opinion on the subject of servitude might do so. 

But in a country where slavery is already 
abolished by the laws of the state, may not the 



inot of this world. 89 

churches consistently introduce an article into 
their confessions which shall express their ab- 
horrence of the thing 1 May they not make it 
an essential requisite to church membership, 
that all who are admitted shall subscribe to a 
sound creed relative to this subject, as much as 
in relation to the doctrines of salvation % It 
must be acknowledged, that in a country where 
the law does not recognize the existence of 
slavery, an article of this nature introduced into 
church creeds, would not be at variance with 
the civil government 5 yet it behooves us to in- 
quire whether, even here, it would not be out 
of its place ; and whether it would not even be 
at variance with the divine rule relating to the 
things which shall be made essential to mem- 
bership. Is it right to divide the body of Christ, 
by insisting on qualifications for membership, 
and on terms of communion, which his word 
does not require ] If we make one thing an 
essential requisite to holding a place in his 
church, which is not made so by his word, will 
it not lead to dangerous results 1 If we permit 
one such thing to take the place of an essential 
requisite, how can we resist the claims which 
may be made by another thing of this nature 1 
And where will be an end to the shibboleths which 



90 Christ's kingdom 

this principle would introduce into those for- 
mularies that are designed for a bond of union 
among the disciples of Christ 1 Even on the 
subject now before us, if this principle were 
adopted, it might lead to several distinct organi- 
zations among those who were agreed on the 
main question. It might require that one church 
should be composed of one class of abolitionists, 
and another church of another class, according 
to the difference of opinion which they might 
entertain relative to the most proper measures 
for the removing of the existing evil. 

Here suffer me to put a serious question : 
Do you not believe, Christian brethren, that in 
proportion as such unauthorized bonds of union 
are introduced and dwelt upon, it tends to make 
us lose sight of the great doctrines of the gospel 
which are more appropriately the bond of 
Christian fellowship ] Were some of our 
churches to require their members to subscribe 
to an Anti-slavery article, and others to a Colo- 
nization article, do you not think its influence 
would be hurtful to the cause of truth and 
piety 1 Would it not issue in this j that ere 
long these would be churches of Abolitionists^ 
and churches of Colonizationists, rather than 
churches of humble experimental Christians 1 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 91 

To me, brethren, it is a matter of deep regret 
that this subject should be the cause of so much 
mutual recrimination and division among the 
friends of the Redeemer. Some, I know, will 
say that among His friends there is no division, 
and can be none on so plain a subject. I will 
grant it would require a stretch of charity to 
believe that there are any of the Redeemer's 
friends, who despise their fellow man, because 
his skin is not colored like their own : or who 
choose to keep their servants in the most brutish 
ignorance, to prevent their knowing themselves 
to be men. But does the Bible authorize us to 
assert that such is the character of every master ] 
Does it authorize us to say of every man 
who has a bond servant, that he is the servant 
of sin and in the bond of iniquity 1 The faith 
of Abraham was unquestionable; and yet he 
had quite a company of servants, born in his 
house and bought with his money. In a later 
period of the world there were men sustaining 
the relation of masters, who were nevertheless 
considered as true believers. Paul evidently sup- 
poses that in his days there might have been ser- 
vants under the yoke who had truly Christian 
masters, even such as were " faithful and belov- 
ed, partakers of the benefit." He did not seem 



92 Christ's kingdobi 

desirous of exciting in the minds of these ser- 
vants any suspicion of the piety of their masters. 
The apostle appears to have entertained a fa- 
vorable opinion of the character both of Phile- 
mon and Apphia, the master and mistress of 
Onesimus. See Philemon, verses 1, 2. I am will- 
ing to believe that his own views relative to this 
matter were so enlightened, that he would not 
have been the owner of a servant, if he had been 
furnished with funds to make the purchase ; but 
it is evident that he did not exclude from charity 
all those who were owners of servants. I have 
no doubt that the light which has been reflected 
on this subject since Paul wrote his epistles, has 
increased the obligation of masters to break the 
yoke of bondage from the necks of their servants ; 
but I cannot see that the scriptures justify us in 
concluding that every man, who now sustains the 
relation of a master, is to be ranked among the 
enemies of Christ. 

But why, I would ask, does this matter serve to 
separate very friends all over the country % Why 
are the disciples, and even the ministers of Christ, 
who themselves live far from the region of sla- 
very, thrown into the attitude of hostile array by 
means of this subject 1 In practice we are alike. 
There are none of us who have slaves ; or who 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 93 

expect to have them ; or, as I would fain be- 
lieve, wish to have them. We glory in the dis- 
tinguished privilege of being citizens of the free 
states. We rejoice that the small degree of sla- 
very, which once existed among us, is done 
away by legislative enactments. None of us 
wish to see the slave laws restored to our civil 
codes. Moreover, we sincerely wish that the 
example which we have given, may be followed 
by all our sister states : while we are not igno- 
rant of the fact, that the sacrifice required to be 
made by those states where servile labor is chief- 
ly depended on, must be much greater than that 
which was required to be made by ourselves. 

Whatever may be the feelings of other men 
in relation to this subject, I think I have not 
mistaken my own. I am no slave-holder, nor 
the son of a slave-holder : nor have I any 
brother or kinsman who has any connection 
with the business. I do not despise those Chris- 
tians whose skin is black, any more than those 
whose skin is white. I think 1 truly wish to see 
the whole African race, both bond and free, re- 
garded as fellow-men, and raised from their pre- 
sent state of degradation. I have received no 
bribe to plead in favor of slavery. I have but a 
poor opinion of the thing, nor have I intended to 



94 Christ's kingdom 

say a word in favor, even of its toleration, any 
farther than I have been impelled by a conscien- 
tious regard to the word of God. 

From the knowledge I have of my own mo- 
tives, I am led to judge of the motives of my 
brethren, who take much the same stand in re- 
lation to this matter which I do myself. I can- 
not think that all the ministers of the gospel and 
other members of the churches, who dissent 
from certain opinions of their brethren on the 
other side of the question, and protest against 
some of their measures, ought to be denounced 
as enemies to the colored race, and as friends of 
the whole system of slavery. I believe that 
many, who are stigmatized as pro-slavery men, 
would be willing to pay a considerable tax, pro- 
vided this might furnish the means for effecting 
a peaceable emancipation of all those through- 
out our whole republic who are still held in 
bondage.*" 

*Is there not some way by which we can prevail 
on our sister states, where bondmen are yet found, to 
consent to a general emancipation ? To bring them the 
more speedily to consent to this, would it not be an ex- 
pression of kindness to offer them some pecuniary aid, 
to enable them to bear such a change in their temporal 
circumstances as may seem to them nearly ruinous ? 
If we consider them under obligation to emancipate 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 95 

While I am conscious it has been my inten- 
tion to give you a correct view of domestic ser- 
vitude, as it is exhibited to us in the inspired 
writings, I would by no means intimate that I 
consider all those, who have taken a different 
view of the matter, as men who disregard the 
authority of the scriptures. There are doubt- 
less men on both sides, in this controversy, who 
possess the same veneration for the word of God, 
And I have thought I could discover one way 
to account for the strange fact, that men who 
have no practical concern in this business, and 
who would therefore seem equally free from any 
selfish bias to hinder their candid investigation 
of the subject, should nevertheless arrive at con- 
clusions so different. In their examination of 
this matter, I have thought that one class of 
Christians have confined their attention, almost 
exclusively, to what they consider must naturally 
be the practical results of the great principles 
of the Bible, without having paid equal attention 

their servants, without waiting for any indemnity, still 
we have a right to encourage them in well-doing. Is 
there not now a favorable opportunity in this country 
to raise a revenue for this benevolent object, by laying 
a tax on certain imported articles of consumption, much 
used all over our country, and which are now freed 
from taxation ? 



96 ©hrist's kingdom 

to those rules which were given on purpose to 
regulate the practice of the churches relative to 
this specific case. This class have come to the 
conclusion, that involuntary servitude cannot be 
tolerated another day : that if it be tolerated by 
the state, the church raust lift her warning voice 
against it, and exclude from her own fellowship 
all who do not embrace their views in relation 
to the subject. 

The other class of Christians, having paid a 
closer attention to the specific rules which touch 
this very case, have felt themselves constrained 
to let these rules govern their practice. And 
according to their understanding of the rules, 
they feel themselves obliged still to call them 
their hreihren who sustain the relation of mas- 
ters, provided they appear to discharge the du- 
ties of that relation in the fear of God ] com- 
manding their servants as well as their children 
to keep the way of the Lord. 

Nor do Christians of the class last mentioned 
imagine that they have overlooked those great 
principles of disinterested love, which are the 
glory of our heaven-born religion. They, as 
well as their brethren of the other class, earnest- 
ly desire that these holy principles may take a 
stronger hold of all ranks of society, and of mas- 



NOT ON THIS WORLD 97 

ters among the rest. But as they feel under 
obligation to keep in view the specific rules, 
they are constrained to pursue a course some- 
what different from that which is adopted by 
their brethren. I trust both classes are grati- 
fied, when the great principle of Christian be- 
nevolence operates powerfully enough to induce 
not only individual masters, but whole coun- 
tries, to emancipate their servants. And I am 
inclined to believe that both classes sincerely 
desire, that this holy principle may soon exert 
such a mighty influence as to issue in a univer- 
sal emancipation. 

While waiting for this happy result, those of 
us who are of opinion that the specific rules al- 
luded to have never been annulled, are convinc- 
ed that the God of the Bible allows us to do 
nothing to foment a servile war. Did his pro- 
vidence open the way for any of us, to whom 
he has committed the ministry of reconciliation, 
to go into the slave states to preach his gospel, 
we should feel ourselves sacredly bound, by the 
laws of Christ, to avoid speaking any thing of 
an inflammatory nature, either in our public or 
private instructions. Nor do we mean to com- 
plain of these laws, for we are convinced that 
no other, relating to this matter, would have 
9 



98 Christ's kingdobi 

been equally wise and good. We verily be- 
lieve, if our piety should be equal to that of our 
brethren on the other side of the question, that 
our prospects of usefulness among a slave popu- 
lation would be decidedly the best. We should 
preach but one gospel, but one emancipation, to 
black and white, bond and free. This gospel, 
if set home by the power of Govd, would be 
adapted to excite the same inquiry among ser- 
vants and masters, namely, " What must I do to 
be saved V — saved from "sin's old yoke and 
Satan's chain." 

We will not say that religious teachers may 
not more freely discuss the subject in countries 
and states where slavery is abolished ; yet so 
far as these discussions are designed to exert an 
influence on those parts of the world where the 
evil still remains, we believe it to be pre-emi- 
nently important that they should be character- 
ized with Christian meekness and benevolence. 
" Speaking the truth in love^^ — " In meekness 
instructing those that oppose themselves" — 
these directions, emanating from Him whose 
wisdom is perfect, are designed to guide the 
efforts of those of his servants who, by means of 
religious instructions, are seeking to change the 
character of an erroneous and perverse world. 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 99 

,. It is time this subject were drawn to a close. 

jl Already I have extended my remarks beyond 

my first intention. In taking up this subject I 
was not without hope, that by placing before 
my fellow Christians the spiritual character of 
our Redeemer's kingdom, I might do something 
to remove discord, and promote united efforts 
among ourselves, for the prosperity of a cause 
which, I trust, is dear to all our hearts. They 
who have heard my discourses from the pulpit, 
or read my communications from the press, will 
bear me witness that I have stood aloof from such 
topics as belong rather to statesmen than divines. 
But since entering on this subject, which agi- 
tates the political as well as the religious com- 
munity, I have had some fear, lest this attempt 
to prevent the church from departing from its 
proper sphere, should be thought, by some of 
my friends, to be a departure from my own. I 
am sure, however, that my desire has been that 
I might be enabled to speak on this exciting 
topic in such a manner as to do good, and not 
mischief — to promote kind, and not angry feel- 
ings among Christian brethren. 

As these discourses on the kingdom of Christ 
were begun by an exhibition of its heavenly na- 
ture^ suffer me to close them by calling back 



100 Christ's kingdom 

your minds to this, which we ought ever to con- 
sider its most precious peculiarity. Divest the 
kingdom of Christ of its spirituality^ and you 
divest it of its glory. It can be secularized 
until its beauty and glory shall have departed. 
What is the church of Rome now, and what has 
it been for more than a thousand years ! It calls 
itself "the church"— "the kingdom of Christ:" 
but is in fact one of the kingdoms of this world, 
and as secular as any of the rest. It has there- 
fore lost the most distinctive characteristic of 
Christ's unearthly kingdom. Let all the friends 
of the church be warned to avoid every thing 
which will tend to bring it down from the high 
elevation which Christ gave it, to a level with 
the interests of earth. 

What a mercy have the children of men re- 
ceived, in having the kingdom of heaven set up 
among them ! What a mercy that in a world 
of sin there should be a kingdom of holiness ! 
in a world where every thing is unstable as wa- 
ter, there should be a kingdom that cannot be 
moved ! Well may it be considered as the glory 
of our world. It is by the setting up of Christ's 
kingdom among us that the earth differs from 
hell. They who become united in heart to its 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 101 

interests are heirs to an inheritance which will 
never fade away. To promote the advance- 
ment of Christ's kingdom ought to be the chief 
concern of the whole race 5 and we have reason 
to expect it will be the chief concern of all who 
are actuated by the principle of love to God and 
man. 

The Savior sought to attract, and as it were 
confine our attention to this one object. He 
said, " One thing is needful." He compared 
the kingdom of heaven to a treasure that a man 
finds in a field, which appears valuable enough 
in his estimation, to induce him to sell all he 
has to buy that field. Christ required all men 
to seek j^r^^ (that is, as a paramount interest) 
the kingdom of God. 

And now, dear hearers, has this kingdom 
which the Savior calls his^ and which he de- 
clares to be of an unearthly character, ever at- 
tracted your attention 1 Have you become its 
subjects? Are you its subjects in such a pe- 
culiar sense, that with its holy interests yours 
are identified % Do you prefer Jerusalem 
above your chief joy? Have you discerned 
the spiritual glory of Zion's King, and of the 



102 Christ's kingdom 

kingdom over which he reigns'? Does this 
kingdom fill your eye ? Do you care more 
about the success of the gospel, than the suc- 
cess of your side in the political world] Do 
you care more about the success of the gospel, 
than success in all the business of this life 1 
Is your altention specially turned to the use of 
means for the subversion of Satan's kingdom 1 
Does subjection to his yoke appear the worst 
of thraldom ? When you look around on those 
of your children who are the servants of sin, 
is it your first petition concerning them, that 
they may be delivered from this vile servitude 
and become Christ's freemen 1 Do you wish 
them to become the loyal subjects of Christ's 
holy kingdom 1 Do you long to see the whole 
world pressing into the kingdom of Godi 
And is it one thing which gives to worldly 
property a value in your eyes 5 that it can be 
made greatly to subserve the advancement of a 
kingdom which is now in this world, but will 
at length be established in heaven, where its 
glory will exceed all we can ask or think ] 

Surely, my brethren, if we are agreed in un- 
derstanding the nature of Christ's kingdom, 
and in preferring its interests above our chief 



NOT OF THIS WORLD. 103 

joy, we cannot be so far disagreed about other 
matters as to be a just cause of alienation. I 
would then say with the apostle ,• "As many 
as walk by this rule, peace be on them and 
mercy, and upon the Israel of God !" 



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